The 31st AIDA Freediving World Championship in Cyprus saw completion of the last of its eight competition days yesterday (29 September), and in terms of diving conditions it had turned out to be an event of two halves.
That meant a placid sea state with little current over the first four days, deteriorating at the halfway stage as strong currents arrived, combining with choppy surface conditions by the last day. Water temperature was in the 25-28°C range.
Almost 120 athletes were competing, men and women on alternate days, about a mile off the beach in Limassol, where the water reaches as deep as 170m. The competition covers four depth disciplines.
Of the three AIDA world records broken, two were achieved in the more challenging second half of the week. Two were claimed by the world’s top male freediver Alexey Molchanov, competing as “Independent” given the invasion of Ukraine by his country of birth, while the third was wrested from Molchanov by Croatian diver Petar Klovar.
Molchanov beat his previous 121m AIDA best in the Constant Weight Bi-Fins (CWTB) discipline by 2m on 24 September – raising the bar again in a to-and-fro that has been continuing between the Russian and French freediver Jerald Arnaud.
And it was also Molchanov’s own AIDA record that he broke on the last day of competition in Constant Weight Monofin (CWT), leaving his previous 133m behind by 3m despite the difficult conditions. In doing so he replicated the CMAS world record he had set at its World Championship in Roatan a month before. “It was a hard dive, but at the same time I felt confident at the surface,” he said.
Klovar faced similar conditions when he overtook Molchanov’s 133m Free Immersion (FIM) world record with a 135m dive. Molchanov had set that record at the recent Vertical Blue event in the Bahamas, where Klovar had been left frustrated after being barred from the competition for alleged drug contraventions that he disputes.
One of the 47 national records set in Limassol included one in FIM – the only discipline in which pulling on the rope is allowed but fins are not – by the UK’s Gary Mcgrath.
His 103m dive overtook the 102m set by Michael Board five years ago, and was impressive because Mcgrath’s previous AIDA competition best in the discipline had been 70m, ranking him 10th nationally.
“I was really looking forward to this dive because I love monofin,” he explained. “I’d done nothing but monofin for 10-12 years and it’s only this year that I’ve trained in other disciplines.” Mcgrath is already the UK CWT record-holder (115m), having taken that record from Board last year, also by 1m.
Jung A Kim of Korea came first in the overall competition rankings for women, followed by Sanda Delija of Croatia and Irena Vanova of the Czech Republic. Croatians also featured in the men’s overall rankings, with Vitomir Maricic followed by Petar Klovar and Germany’s Fabio Tunno. Find more information on the AIDA event pages.
Also on Divernet: Absolute freediving world records set in Roatan, National passions as 8 freediving world records tumble, Freediver Zecchini smashes bi-fins world record, No fins, 1 breath, 4+ lengths, 7th world record, British freediver breaks 15-year national record
