Multiple Freediving World Records set to fall

Multiple Freediving World Records set to fall in Wellington Competition

04 August 2008

Four Freediving World Records are poised to fall in two Wellington locations. Saturday, August 9th through Wednesday , August 13th, four separate freediving world records and four national record are poised to fall at Trust Porirua Aquatic Centre, and Naenae Olympic Pools by two Wellington Free Divers in the Wellington Winter Champs hosted by the Lazyseal Freediving Club.

Kathryn McPhee and Dave Mullins have been training for the competition, in which it is likely they will attempt to break the freediving world records of Dynamic Apnea (completing underwater lengths in a pool with the use of a monofin) and Dynamic without Fins (completing underwater lengths via self propulsion). McPhee must achieve a distance of 150m on one breath of air in the Dynamic without Fins discipline, while Mullins will be attempting a distance exceeding 213m. Mullins will also attempt to break his own World record of 244m in the Dynamic Apnea discipline. 29 Year old McPhee, an Architect from Wellington has been competitively freediving since 2005, and currently holds all New Zealand Womens freediving records. The latest of these records being the Dynamic No Fins record which was set in May 2008 at 150m, this record exceeds the current world record held by Natalia Molchanova from Russia. McPhee also has the

Dynamic Apnea record in her sights, again this world record is currently held by Russia's Molchanova at 205m. Mullins, a 27 year old Information management adviser and competitive freediver for 4 years, is the current world record holder in Dynamic Apnea, (244m)

New Zealand Record holder in Dynamic without Fins (175m) and Constant Weight (-108m) and won a Silver medal, in the AIDA World Constant Weight Championships 2007 (-110m) The Current Dynamic Nofins world record of 213m was set 4 weeks ago by German Tom Sietas. Both Divers have recently returned from competition in the Bahamas, which saw fellow Kiwi William Trubridge become a double World Record holder, in the depth disciplines Free Immersion with a depth of -108m and unassisted freediving, or "constant weight no fins" of -86m. Freediving, or breath-hold diving as a sport, is where athletes compete in disciplines involving time, depth and distance with different sub categories in each.

The competitive world of freediving is increasingly popular in Europe, and New Zealands strength is confirmed in the fact that it currently holds 3 out of 8 of the mens freediving world records, and its divers are some of the highest ranked divers in the world. AIDA International Judges Grant Graves (USA) Walter Steyn (Australia), Fran Rose (NZL) and Braedon McPhee (NZL) will be ratifying the world record attempts and ensuring that the strictest of safety protocols are observed during the competition, in which many competitive freedivers from both New Zealand and Australia will be competing in.

Last year, Mullins broke the Dyanmic Apnea World Record at Naenae Olympic pool, which received an outstanding response from international groups and underwater enthusiasts from around the globe. Media are invited to attend the event and should contact the AIDA NZ media contact below for event information or to receive updates and further press releases from the event.

ENDS

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