Topi's New World Record Attempt
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Freediver Topi Lintukangas (31) the two-times world record holder in the freediving Constant Weight No Fins discipline has set his goal to break the current world record. The world record attempt will be held in Nice, France 1.-3.10.2004.
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This freediving category is the purest and most traditional form of diving, it is also the most athletic of all freediving disciplines. In this category freedivers dive to the target depth and back up to the surface by swimming without the use of any propulsion devices. Due to thermoclines in deep water, divers are normally forced to use a wetsuit. The use of diving goggles, a weight belt, a nose clip and a diving computer is also allowed.
Topi has held the world record in the Constant Weight No Fins category two times before. His last world record dive of 60m was made in November 2002 and remained against several world record attempts for over a year. It was finally broken by Danish freediver Stig Severinssen in the fall of 2003. Currently the world record (65m) in this category is held by Jamaican David Lee. However the world record could well change even before Topi's attempt, as three world record attempts on this category have been scheduled within the next couple of weeks by the world's best freedivers.
Most of us are familiar with freediving through the Loic Bessons film "Grand Bleau". The movie presents freediving as a genuinely peaceful and beautiful world below the surface. Those images seem to be very close to reality. Topi Lintukangas describes freediving as gliding towards a blue abyss where everything below the surface disappears. "Freediving is the feeling of water gliding on your skin, when everything in your body slows down and total peacefulness takes over your mind. It is like a journey towards your inner senses, a journey in which you have to prepare yourself throughout and from which you return a little changed every time" Lintukangas says.
More of those images will be presented next spring when the "Big Breath" documentary movie, produced b Matila Röhr and directed by A. Heinilä, is premiered throughout Europe. The movie is the story of Topi's journey and preparation ahead of the freediving world record attempt. The world record project in Nice will be the final part of the movie.
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