WHAT IS FREEDIVING?
FREEDIVING is also known as apnea, which means the suspension of breathing, and it has been around for thousands of years. Archaeologists found evidence of people using free diving in the Mediterranean Sea at the time of Alexander the Great, when divers used to collect sea sponge. In Japan, Ama divers also used to collect pearls around 2000 years ago.
There are eight different types of freedives that are recognised competitively. All dives are completed with a single breath.
CONSTANT WEIGHT: The most common depth version of freediving. The diver descends using either a monofin or bi-fins, typically with a wetsuit, and a small amount of weight. The diver is not allowed to pull on any guide ropes.
CONSTANT WEIGHT NO FINS: The diver wears a wetsuit and a small amount of weight and only uses their muscle strength to propel them downwards and back up again. Generally regarded as the most difficult and pure discipline from a sporting perspective.
FREE IMMERSION: Similar to constant weight no fins, in that a diver uses only a wetsuit and a small amount of weight, but they can also use a guide rope for propulsion.
DYNAMIC WITH FINS: The first of the pool disciplines. The diver travels underwater with a propulsion aid such as a monofin to cover the greatest distance possible.
DYNAMIC WITHOUT FINS: Diver tries to cover the greatest distance possible in the pool, but only using their arms and legs to propel themselves.
SPEED-ENDURANCE APNEA:
Athletes aim to cover a fixed distance within the shortest possible time while keeping their body underwater.
STATIC APNEA: This discipline requires the diver to hold their breath for as long as possible floating face down with the respiratory tracts submerged.
VARIABLE WEIGHT: One of the two ‘more extreme’ versions of the sport whereby a diver descends with the help of a heavy weight to a pre-agreed depth and then ascends to the surface using their own strength. It was popularised in the 1988 Luc Besson movie, The Big Blue.
NO LIMITS: The true expression of human endurance underwater. The diver descends with the help of a heavy weight then ascends using any method they choose. Austrian Herbert Nitsch has set the world record dive of 214 metres in this discipline.