AIDA 2009 Freediving World Championships 2009 Underway

The 2009 AIDA Freediving World Championships are now well underway with heats in the men’s and women’s Constant Weight, No Fins (CNF) category already completed at the event location at Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas.

Over 50 divers from 17 countries took part in an opening ceremony on November 25 and spent two days training before competition began with the women’s CNF heat on Friday November 27. The men’s heat took place the next day.

Athletes must nominate their intended dive depth before each event begins. They must complete the dive by retrieving a Velcro tag fixed at the bottom of a weighted cable at the nominated depth and then return to the surface without blacking out.

World record holder Natalia Molchanova (RUS) set the best target with 55m, five metres short of her record set in Egypt in June 2008. Also qualifying for the final to be held on Thursday December 3 were Niki Roderick of New Zealand, Junko Kitahama (JPN) who set a national and Asian record of 48m, Brigitte Banegas (FRA), Jana Strain (CAN) and Oiga Suryakova.

In the men’s event, world record holder William Trubridge (NZL) dove to 85m, ahead of Canadian William Winram who reached his nominated 80m mark. Also going through were Alexey Molchanov (RUS), Morgan Bourc’his (FRA), Christian Maldame (FRA), Guillaume Nery (FRA) and Herbert Nitsch (AUT).

Nitsch failed to retrieve his tag at 74m and incurred a penalty, but had rightly calculated that his effort was still enough to reach the December 3 final.

Trubridge’s 85m dive was just three metres short of his world record set in April, 2009. The 29-year-old is in top form and could potentially aim to break his record in the final.

Next on the programme are the heats for the men’s and women’s Constant Weight (CWT) competition. Fins are allowed in this category and depths are expected to exceed 100m. The current world best is 122m held by Martin Sepanek, who is not competing in these championships and would therefore be unable to defend his record should an attempt be made.

Natalia Molchanova holds the women’s world best at 101m, which she set in September 2009. She will be hard pushed by Sara Campbell (GBR) who had set the previous record of 96m only five months prior.

The CWT final will be held on December 5, which is also the last day of the championships.

Image by ©Igor Liberti http://www.apnea.ch/.