Russian freediver Alexey Molchanov has claimed yet another absolute world record in a discipline he has made his own, Constant Weight With Bifins (CWTB), while Ukraine’s Katryina Sadurska continues to shift her Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) world record ever deeper.
Molchanov, competing as a neutral in terms of nationality, carried out a 127m dive at the CMAS Deep Dominica competition in Soufriere, breaking by one metre the record he had set in late September at the AIDA Freediving World Championship. Molchanov has set eight CWTB world records under AIDA governance since 2019.
The freediver used his own glass-fibre PRO Hyper Bifins X fins and 0.8mm PRO wetsuit. “Moments like this remind me why I keep coming back to the rope – the focus, the silence and the people who share this journey with me,” he said after the dive.
Ninth record claimed
Meanwhile Katryina Sadurska of Ukraine was back claiming her ninth women’s world record in the CNF discipline, hot on the heels of her eighth only days earlier.
She managed to add 2m to the 86m record depth she had achieved at the Blue Element competition, also in Dominica, on 24 November. The 88m dive took her 3min 30sec, two seconds less than the previous one.
Sadurska said of her latest record-breaking dive: “It’s hard to believe but it’s 14m deeper than my first one, which I set back in 2023.” At present her AIDA world record stands at 84m, so if verified the 88m dive will represent another absolute women’s world record.
The bi-annual AIDA Blue Element depth competition is hosted by Blue Element Freediving in Soufrière and Scott’s Head Bay. With international freedivers already on the island Deep Dominica is run in the same area straight after the other event by the school of that name, which was founded by former Blue Element instructors.
