Molchanovs-Sponsored Local Competitions Are Pushing Deeper Depths

The summer of 2025 has seen the Philippines become a hotspot for shattering national, continental and world records.

By Kristina Zvaritch
Editors Deena Lynch and Asya Kleshchevnikova

Photo © Federico Buzzoni

In May and June 2025, athletes set new world records in Camotes and shattered continental and national records in Panglao, setting the bar for depth competitions very high in Asia. Molchanovs is proud to sponsor local competitions that advance our sport and continue to grow our global freediving family—check for yourself what’s been happening in our sponsored competitions in the Philippines over the past few months.

CMAS World Cup Philippines 2025

Camotes Island, nestled in the Philippines, saw 40 registered athletes from 22 countries competing at the CMAS World Cup Philippines 2025. Athletes enjoyed good visibility and warm water temperatures on Camotes Freediving’s platform. A surface livestream on Instagram let all of us on land watch the athletes’ dives.

France's Marianna Krupnitskaia finishes her dive with a smile at the CMAS World Cup Philippines 2025. Photo © Laura Mommicchi.

The CMAS World Cup Philippines 2025 served as a qualifier for the CMAS World Championship, attracting plenty of athletes from different countries with top performances. One world record was set by Alessia Zecchini (ITA), who took her bifins down to an incredible 113m (371ft) and came back to a white card. Two Masters 1 world records were both set by Helena Bourdillon (GBR), who set the new bar in CNF to 49m (161ft) and 51m (167ft). Ying Huang (CHN) later overtook Helena’s world records in CNF, diving 3m (10ft) deeper to 54m (177ft).

Competition organizer and owner of Camotes Freediving, Thibault Guignés, reaches for deep depths in FIM. Photo © Laura Mommicchi.

As for CMAS Continental Records, American Enchante Gallardo (USA) set two impressive Senior North American records: one to 68m (223ft) CNF and another to 97m (318ft) in FIM. Two new Masters M1 continental records were set by Enchante’s teammate, Jerry Van Galder (USA), to 58m (190ft) with no fins and 71m (233ft) with his monofin. Thailand’s Vichaya Chatikavanij (THA) set a Master M2 record with a CWTB dive to 41m (135ft). CMAS National Records were shattered throughout the competition and were replaced with new ones, with an astounding 37 Senior national records and 5 Master national records.
 
The women on the overall podium had Agata Zalecka (POL) in first, Ying Huang (CHN) behind her in second place, and third was Türkiye’s Yasemin Ulucan (TUR). For the men, Serghey Zykov (INT) took first place, with Viktor Korsun (UKR) holding second place and Sweden’s Kim Dalgren (SWE) in third. Both first-place overall winners received 500 USD vouchers from Molchanovs each, and each athlete received an EQ Trainer 2 and a CORE Swim Cap in their welcome pack.

Upcoming Events

Camotes Freediving is a school located in San Francisco on the island of Camotes in the Philippines. With beautiful conditions, a platform, and all levels of Molchanovs courses and a master program, they’re developing the next generation of freediving athletes. They host multiple depth competitions throughout the year—follow them on Instagram (@camotesfreediving) to discover upcoming competitions.

AIDA Asian Freediving Cup 2025

Freedive SuperHOME's platform at the Asian Freediving Cup features two competition lines and four warm-up lines. Photo © Federico Buzzoni.

2025’s Asian Freediving Cup is now in its 9th edition, and gets better with every year. What started out as the AIDA Depth Challenge has now evolved into AFC, taking place on Freedive SuperHOME’s Y-260 platform (named for its 260m / 853ft of depth) in the warm waters of the Doljo area of Panglao, Philippines. A total of 67 athletes from 16 countries completed a total of 253 dives; impressively, 72 of those dives were over 90m (295ft) deep. Fans could watch all of their favorite athletes’ dives via a surface livestream.
 
An incredible 10 AIDA Continental Records were set at AFC 2025. In FIM, Zhiying Yu (CHN) claimed the Asian Continental Record for his dive to 112m (367ft). CWTB had a total of four new records: two sensational men’s Australian records of 102m (335ft) and 104m (341ft) by Mitch Ayres (AUS), another for the women by Tara Rawson (AUS) to 79m (259ft), and China’s Tongtong Xu (CHN) dived 98m (322ft). Only one record in CWT was set by Jingyu Ning (CHN) to an awe-inspiring 108m (354ft). And in CNF, Chinese athletes, Mingxin Zhang (CHN) went to 77m (253ft), while his teammate Kai Xiao (CHN) later topped it with 80m (262ft) and 82m (269ft). Furthermore, a jaw-dropping 28 national records were achieved at AFC.
 
Women’s overall winners of the competition included China’s Tongtong Xu (CHN) in first place, Japan’s Mariko Kaji (JPN), and Türkiye’s Alice Elliatioglu (TUR) in 3rd place. As for the men, Sergey Zykov (AIN) came out on top, with Taiwan’s Hua Yang Huang (TPE) and China’s Zhiying Yu (CHN) following close behind in 2nd and 3rd. Overall winners received vouchers from Molchanovs ranging from 600 to 1,000 USD.

An athlete diving to depth on Freedive SuperHOME's platform at the Asian Freediving Cup 2025. Photo © Federico Buzzoni.

The AFC organizers are Oliver Qing Lu and Yanzi Yuan, both owners of Freedive SuperHOME, and John Folkvord, owner of Just One Breath Freediving. Both schools offer Molchanovs courses from beginner to L/W3 instructor-level and coaching sessions ahead of competition, and John at Just One Breath Freediving teaches out of Freedive SuperHOME. “What I enjoyed most about AFC was working with an amazing team, where everyone knows extremely well what they’re doing,” John told Molchanovs. “The whole team is so experienced and well-trained for the important things, which makes it possible to focus on the things that are nice to have.”

Upcoming Events

Freedive SuperHOME regularly holds year-round competitions: pool in November to April, and depth from June to September. Follow them on Instagram (@freedive_superhome) to stay in the loop for upcoming competitions and AFC 2026—where SuperHOME is making plans to bring Diveye.