New world freediving records have been set by Frenchman Arnaud Jerald and Alenka Artnik from Slovenia at the slimmed-down 2025 Vertical Blue competition, held annually at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas.
The first of the CMAS world records to fall was in the Constant Weight with Bifins (CWTB) discipline. Jerald, 29, dived to 125m in 3min 54sec, breaking the record he had himself set two years previously at the event with a 122m dive.
The new CMAS record depth now matched that set under AIDA rules by Alexey Molchanov at the world championship in Corsica last year – but then, on day 5 of Vertical Blue (6 July), Jerald went one better with a successful 126m CWTB dive in a far quicker 3min 45sec.
He reportedly had not planned a second attempt during the competition, but decided to push deeper because he was feeling strong.
“I remember everything from every moment of every change in water temperature and especially the moment when I hit the bottom and I said to myself: Wow, now I’m very far from the surface!” he said. “I wish everyone to live such a fulfilment of their dreams. It’s been a long time since I cried with joy.”
Hardest challenge
On day 7 (9 July) a women’s world record was set by Artnik, her 17th to date. The 43-year-old reached 123m in Constant Weight (CWT) in 3min 46sec.
“Making this dive was probably one of the hardest challenges I’ve ever been through,” she said afterwards of her monofinned achievement. “There was so much heaviness, fear, doubts and struggles connected with this specific discipline and depth.
“What once felt the most amazing experience (my 122m dive from 2021) later became my biggest burden: ‘How to re-make such a perfect dive?’ or ‘Can I make it again?’” The depth equals Italian diver Alessia Zecchini’s AIDA world record.
Only 20 freedivers selected as “elite athletes” took part in this year’s Vertical Blue event, which ran from 1-11 July. The stated aim of the alteration was to focus on deeper dives, optimal access to the sites, more personalised safety and conditions more conducive to record-breaking.
Also on Divernet: Freediving festival set to kick off in Cornwall, 59yr-old claims men’s breath-hold walk record, How Croatian freediver held breath for 29 minutes, Freediver Klovar breaks Trubridge’s 17-year no-fins reign
