William Trubridge sets a new world record in Free Immersion of 121m
12.4.2011
New Zealander William Trubridge set his 15th Freediving World Record during the weekend, with a dive to 121 meters in the discipline "Free Immersion," where the athlete descends and ascends by pulling on a weighted descent rope. The record was set on the third day of "Vertical Blue," a freediving competition held annually in Dean's Blue Hole, Bahamas. The total dive time was four minutes and thirteen seconds. Trubridge used Suunto D4 dive computer in his new world record.
Trubridge recently set a historic record for freediving in the unassisted discipline (no fins or assistance such as line-pulling) in December 2010, with a dive to 101 meters. Though Free Immersion is an easier form of propulsion, the depths reached make it very difficult to equalise the ears, and the lungs must be trained to tolerate the crushing pressure (at 121 meters the pressure is more than 13 atmospheric).
The previous record of 120 meters was held by Austrian Herbert Nitsch, set at the same event in April last year. The rivalry between these two athletes has become strong in recent years, as they strive to exceed each other in the various disciplines. While Trubridge now holds two of the three records for the depth disciplines, Nitsch retains the third record in the discipline of Constant Weight (where athletes can use a monofin to descend and ascend).
Images by DeeDee Flores