World Apnea debuts its new name with two world records in Limassol

The Depth World Championships debuted the World Apnea name with two world records and two standout athletes who also claimed the overall titles: Zsófia Törőcsik and Alexey Molchanov. The Hungarian reached 108 metres in Free Immersion, while the Russian, competing as an independent athlete, closed the championships with a 137-metre Constant Weight dive. Both records remained subject to ratification.

The Limassol event, with competition running from September 30 to October 8, announced a record entry of 178 athletes from 55 countries. It was the fifth AIDA World Championships hosted by Cyprus and the first depth edition under the new name. The programme featured four disciplines, each with women’s and men’s competitions: Constant Weight No Fins, Constant Weight with Bifins, Free Immersion and Constant Weight, the latter allowing either a monofin or bifins.

Molchanov and Klovar share all four men’s gold medals

The men’s competition developed into a duel between Molchanov and Croatia’s Petar Klovar, who shared all four titles and occupied the top two places in every discipline. Klovar won No Fins with 96 metres against his rival’s 93, and Free Immersion with 132 against 128. Molchanov responded in Bifins with 126 metres to the Croatian’s 120. They entered the final discipline separated by just one point in the overall standings, with Klovar ahead.

The decisive dive came on October 8. Molchanov descended to 137 metres in Constant Weight, improving his previous world record by one metre and taking gold ahead of Klovar on 125 and American Brad Stephens on 115. The result also secured him the overall title with 484 points to Klovar’s 473. Oman’s Omar Al Ghailani completed the overall podium with 407 points, having also collected three bronze medals in the individual disciplines.

Törőcsik takes the overall title amid women’s competition surprises

Törőcsik opened the women’s competition with No Fins gold at 78 metres, ahead of Croatia’s Sanda Delija on 75 and Ukraine’s Nataliia Zharkova on 68. Her second title came in Free Immersion, where she completed her world-record 108-metre dive in four minutes. Zharkova took silver with 103 metres and Isabel Sánchez Arán bronze with 92. The Spaniard earned her first AIDA World Championships medal and a mark announced as a national record, pending ratification.

The Bifins competition upset expectations. France’s Jade Agboton won with 98 metres, followed by Finland’s Leena Oijala on 92 and Hungary’s Fatima Korok on 91. Törőcsik had announced a world-record attempt of 113 metres but turned at 101 and received a points penalty. Zharkova reached her announced 106 metres, but a subsequent review changed her initial white card to red for pulling on the line before her head was fully above the surface.

Zharkova responded in the final women’s discipline, Constant Weight, with gold at 113 metres. Agboton took silver with 101 and Törőcsik bronze: she reached 108 of her announced 115 metres and finished with 100 points after penalties. The result illustrated why depth alone does not determine the podium: completing the announced dive and avoiding infringements also shape the final standings.

The Hungarian retained her overall title with 374 points, ahead of Delija on 338 and Slovenia’s Mojca Haberman on 308. Agboton finished three points short of bronze, while Zharkova placed sixth with 284 despite collecting an individual gold, silver and bronze. The two world records defined World Apnea’s debut, but consistency across all four disciplines decided its overall titles.

All World Championships podiums

Podiums checked against reports from each discipline and the published results.

Bronze medals were shared in CNF and FIM.

The overall standings combine the points earned across all four disciplines.

Both world records were reported as pending ratification.