CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship 2022
Belgrade 2022
Asya Kleshchevnikova, Sports Columnist
Head of Customer Service &International Sales
asya@molchanovs.com
molchanovs.com
Kristina Zvaritch
Editor
1. Preview of the World Championship
2. Pre-competition forecast by discipline
3. Competition Day 1 (12 June):
3.1. Starting protocols for DNF and Speed-Endurance 16x50m
3.2. New CMAS World Record in DNF
3.3. Official results in DNF and Speed-Endurance 16x50m
4. Competition Day 2 (13 June):
4.1. Starting protocols for DYN BF
4.2. New CMAS World Record DYN BF (male)
4.3. New CMAS World Record in DYN BF (female)
4.4. Official results for DYN BF
5. Competition Day 3 (14 June):
5.1. Starting protocols for STA and Speed 100m
5.2. Official results for STA and Speed 100m
6. Competition Day 4 (15 June):
6.1. Starting protocols for DYN and Speed-Endurance 8x50m
6.2. New CMAS World Record in DYN (male)
6.3. New CMAS World Record in DYN (female)
6.4. Official results for DYN and Speed-Endurance 8x50m
Hello freedivers and those who dream of becoming one! My name is Asya, as some of you may already know from the sports reports on molchanovs.com last year covering the CMAS Freediving Indoor and Outdoor Championships, Vertical Blue, and other remarkable freediving competitions. This year, on behalf of the Molchanovs International team, editor Kristina Zvaritch and I also report on the 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship on Molchanovs social media.
My main goal is to show you exactly how exciting freediving competitions are and to share my passion for the sport and its athletes! If you are looking for the most recent news from the Championship, or if you have randomly come across the freediving competition livestream and don't have a clue what is going on the screen - our reports are for you! But be warned, you might become obsessed with everything freediving after a week of reading about and watching the competition excitement unfold!
Are you ready? Let’s go!
Preview of the World Championship
12th CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship started on 10 June.
We hope you are as excited as we are! If not, here are several reasons why you should be!
Just like last year, the Championship takes place in Belgrade, Serbia. But unlike the previous Championship, this year’s event is occuring with COVID-19 restrictions almost fully-lifted. That means that this year, athletes have had sufficient time to thoroughly train, participate in many local and international freediving competitions, and even set new world records. These athletes are well-prepared for the competition, making for some intense rivalry. After all, the world champion status is at stake!
The competitions are arranged by a very experienced team of organizers led by Božana Ostojić, the President of the Serbian Underwater Federation, who has 16 years of experience in organizing freediving competitions (including 4 World Championships). Therefore, we believe that conditions will be ideal for relaxation, deconcentration, and new personal best performances and world records. Athlete safety will be secured by a team of 15 safety divers led by Marko Mladenovic and the main judge of the Championship will be Orhan Ölçücüoğlu from Turkey.
Freedivers will perform in the Milan Gale Muškatirović recreational sports center and the pool conditions will be as follows:
- Lane length: 50m (164ft)
- Lane depth: 2m (7ft)
- Lane width: 2.5m (8ft)
- Water temperature: 26°C (78.8°F)
Athletes will compete in 7 disciplines according to the following schedule:
12 June - Dynamic without Fins (DNF) and Speed-Endurance 16x50m
13 June - Dynamic with Bi-fins (DYN BF)
14 June - Static (STA) and Speed 100m
15 June - Dynamic (DYN) and Speed-Endurance 8x50m
The winners of each discipline will be announced at the end of every competition day. This year, for the first time in the history of the CMAS Indoor World Championship, athletes over 50 years old will be separated into the "Masters" category, just like at the 5th CMAS Freediving Outdoor World Championship (October 2021, Kas, Turkey).
At the moment, about 200 athletes from 27 countries announced their participation in the Championship, including athletes from Ukraine. We will only know who the exact participants are on the first day of the competition as it is not yet clear how many of them will have successfully made it to the competition venue. We do know that this year, the national teams and officials from Russia and Belarus are suspended from participating in CMAS sporting events given the incapacity of Ukrainian athletes to take part. The decision was made by CMAS Board Of Directors due to the war in Ukraine. We continue to hope that the ongoing crisis will soon come to a peaceful end.
If you followed our reports in 2021, you already know that the livestream of the 5th CMAS Freediving Outdoor World Championship (October 2021, Kaş, Turkey) featured commentator Brandon Reed. This year, Brandon will also give real-time commentary of the Indoor World Championship and provide additional helpful information to viewers who are new to the sport. Don’t miss out!
Additionally, every competition dayr eporter Asya Kleshchevnikova and editor Kristina Zvaritch will go over the start list and note the performances to watch out for, publish official results, share with you the names of winners and the brightest moments of the day, and, hopefully, share the stories of new world records!
So stay tuned, cheer on the athletes, and don't miss out on news from Belgrade!
Pre-Competition Forecast by Discipline
On June 10th, the CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship begins in Belgrade, Serbia. A traditionally grand opening ceremony is planned for June 11th and the first competition day will be on June 12th. Therefore, we now have some time to talk about the athletes and place our bets on who will be the World Champion in each discipline.
First of all, we want to remind you that in CMAS competitions, we need to consider not only traditional apnea disciplines, but also ‘speed’ disciplines, which are a mix of freediving and finswimming. This makes the forecast for the CMAS Indoor Championship a bit trickier than with other competitions.
However, there are two factors which make our forecasting job a bit easier. The first factor is that a large number of local competitions have been held since the beginning of 2022. Thanks to those competitions, we know most of the athletes’ most recent official results.
The second factor is that two Polish athletes, Mateusz Malina and Magdalena Solich-Talanda, who together set 5 new world records in pool disciplines of freediving this year, are attending this year’s competition. Magdalena is known as a very stable and gradually developing athlete, winning her first bronze medal in the 2015 World Championship and, just a year later, earning the World Champion title in two disciplines. Mateusz’s competition story is more of an engaging thriller with a major setback and doping accusation, which resulted in a 2-year ban from participating in competitions. We are glad to welcome you back, maestro!
Below, we have collected all of the world records in freediving pool disciplines as of June 10th, 2022.
| Discipline | Men | Women | ||
| CMAS | AIDA | CMAS | AIDA | |
| DYN |
22.06.2019 Mateusz Malina (POL) 316.53m (1,038ft) 02.07.2016 |
02.07.2016 Mateusz Malina (POL) Giorgios Panagiotakis (GRC) 300m (984ft) |
26.06.2021 Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL) 265.70m (871ft) |
10.04.2022 Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL) 277m (909ft) |
| DYNB |
14.04.2019 Vitomir Maričić (HRV) 264.70m (868ft) |
27.03.2022 Mateusz Malina (POL) 290m (951ft) |
05.03.2022 Mirela Kardašević (HRV) 243.70m (800ft) |
02.05.2022 Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL) 243m (797ft) 19.06.2019 |
| DNF |
19.06.2019 Guillaume Bourdila (FRA) 236m (774ft) |
01.05.2022 Mateusz Malina (POL) 250m (820ft) |
19.06.2019 Julia Kozerska (POL) 196.95m (646ft) |
01.05.2022 Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL) 207m (679ft) |
| STA |
11.11.2017 Branko Petrović (SRB) 10:45.000 |
08.06.2009 Stéphane Mifsud (FRA) 11:35:00 |
15.06.20217 Veronika Dittes (AUT) 08:53.150 |
21.06.2013 Natalia Molchanova (RUS) 9:02:00 |
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Speed Endurance 16x50 |
19.06.2019 Max Poschart (DEU) 09:10.030 |
23.06.2021 Evgeniia Kozyreva (RUS) 10:41.120 |
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Speed Endurance 8x50 |
22.06.2019 Mikhail Drozdov (RUS) 03:25.720 |
22.06.2019 Martina Mongiardino (ITA) 04:32.280 |
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| Speed Apnea 100m |
15.06.2018 Malte Striegler (DEU) 00:30.350 |
15.06.2017 Vera Yarovitskaya (RUS) 00:35.860 |
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Dynamic Apnea Without Fins
Traditionally, DNF is considered the most challenging discipline because athletes cannot use fins (and perhaps get some advantage out of them if their fins are designed specifically for their needs) and must rely on only their physical and psychological strength. An absolute leader in DNF among men is Mateusz Malina. His current record, which he reached in May 2022 after a 2-year break, is more than 10m (33ft) further than the top records of his closest competitors - Croatian athlete Vanja Peleš (CMAS World Champion in DNF in 2021 with 226.3m/742ft) and French athlete Guillaume Bourdila (CMAS Vice-World Champion in DNF in 2021 and CMAS World Champion and World Record holder in 2019 with 236m/774ft). In addition, another Croatian athlete with real potential, Vitomir Maričić, may surprise us with an extrodinary performance. Vitomir’s personal best in DNF is 240m (787ft), which he reached in 2019.
Women’s records in DNF have a smaller spread, therefore the competition for the CMAS World Record holder and World Champion title will be much more intense. The current CMAS World Record holder in DNF (in a 50m pool) among the women is Polish athlete Julia Kozerska with 196.95m (646ft) in 2019 at the CMAS European Championship in Istanbul. But more recently in May 2022 at the AIDA Polish Freediving Pool Championship, Julia successfully swam a 202m (663ft) distance. It was a great achievement, however it did not win her first place. At the same competition, Magdalena Solich-Talanda reached 207m (679ft) and became the new AIDA World Record holder in DNF. So who do you think will become the new CMAS World Record holder in DNF? Julia or Magdalena?
If you are rooting for Mirela Kardašević from Croatia, you may also be right! Mirela holds a CMAS World Record in DNF in a 25m pool with a performance of 206m (676ft). Also, at the 2021 CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship, Mirela became the Champion in DNF with a 191m (627ft) performance and was followed by Magdalena (189.45m/622ft) and Julia (169.6m/556ft).
Dynamic Apnea with Bi-fins
The competition in DYNB among the men may be considered by some to be a bit boring - if, of course, you consider it ‘boring’ to witness in real-time how the stongest DYNB freediver of today will attempt to set a new CMAS World Record in the discipline! Mateusz Malina recently set a new AIDA World Record in DYNB with an exceptional 290m (951ft) performance, leaving his competitors far behind him.
The CMAS World Record in this discipline still belongs to Croatian athlete Vitomir Maričić - 264.70m (868ft). Vitomir’s best official result in DYNB is 271m/889ft (AIDA Croatia Rijeka Warm Up Tournament on February 26th, 2022), making him only the third among the men of this year’s Championship in DYNB. The second strongest DYNB competitor may be an athlete from China and a student of Mateusz Malina - William Joy (Ming Jin), whose best official result so far is 276m (906ft), which he reached in 2021 at the AIDA One Freedive Club City League, Shanghai Championship Cup. However, at last year’s CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship, William only managed a distance of 250m (820ft), which won him the bronze medal. At that same competition, Vitomir became the World Champion and Mikhail Bryantsev became Vice-Champion with approximately the same results - a bit more than 254m (833ft) with only a difference of 10cm (4in) between them. The question now is how will the athletes manage with the stress and excitement of the World Championship?
The women, again, have a very close results between them in DYNB, so we may very well get the chance to witness an epic rivalry. Magdalena and Mirela both set new world records in DYNB with 243m (797ft) performances. Mirela executed her dive according to CMAS competition rules in March 2022, while Magdalena performed her 243m dive according to AIDA competition rules in May 2022. Therefore, we really have no idea how everything will develop, but it will definitely be something worth seeing!
Once Magdalena and Mirela define their places on the pedestal, other freedivers will also have a chance to compete for second and third places. The strongest DYNB athletes among the women are Magalie Siterre of France (with a 226.92m/744ft official personal best and silver medal at the 2019 CMAS European Championship), Livia Bregonzio of Italy (personal best of 221.65m/727ft and a bronze medal at the 2019 CMAS European Championship) and Lisa Zhang of China (225m/738ft personal best in 2021).
Dynamic Apnea
In DYN, the main favorite is Polish athlete Mateusz Malina (no surprises there!). Mateusz set the currect CMAS World Record in DYN of 316m (1,037ft) at his first CMAS European Championship in 2019. The previous world record in this discipline was 300m (984ft) and belonged to French athlete Arthur Guérin-Boëri, which no other athlete could top for 3 years. The current CMAS World Record is already 3 years old as well... Will Mateusz attempt to outdo himself and improve upon his own world record in DYN? We can fairly judge that the athlete is in great shape considering his earlier performances this year.
Malina’s closest competitor in DYN is his student from China, William Joy, who is now very close to 300m (984ft) with his official personal best record being 296m/971ft (AIDA One Freedive Club City League, Shanghai Championship Cup, July 2021). At last year’s Championship, William confidently managed a 286m (938ft) distance. That performance could have brought him a gold medal and the World Champion title, however, William made a serious mistake during surface protocol (holding on to the pool edge), therefore, he was disqualified. This year, William is a more experienced athlete, so it’s very likely that we will see him on the podium. Two French athletes may compete for third place: Guillaume Bourdila (CMAS World Champion in DYN in 2021 with 278.2m/913ft) and Olivier Elu (third on the pedestal in 2021 with a performance of 258.7m/849ft).
The competition among the women will be much fiercer since several of them have very close results. However, Polish athlete Magdalena Solich-Talanda seems to be a bit stronger than others with her recent AIDA World Record in DYN of 277m/909ft. The CMAS World Record in DYN of 265m/869ft also belongs to Magdalena, which was set at a previous CMAS World Championship, making Magdalena the CMAS World Champion in DYN in 2021. Mirela Kardašević (2021 Vice-Champion in DYN) had a very close performance at 272m/892ft. Two Polish athletes, Julia Kozerska and Agnieszka Kalska, Chinese athlete Lisa Zhang, and Italian athlete Livia Bregonzo will also compete for a medal. The race will be very intense and even the smallest mistake may cost one of these women the World Champion title.
Static Apnea
STA is the most mysterious and ‘slow-motion’ discipline. Watching from the sidelines, you may think that nothing is going on, but with a closer look, you may notice complicated processes going on inside of the athletes’ minds and bodies. Several strong STA athletes like Branko Petrović of Serbia, Aleksandr Maksimov and Roman Gorbovtchev of Russia, Goran Čolak of Croatia, and Eric Marchal of France are not participating in this year’s Championship. Therefore, on the pedestal, we may expect to see Alan Pavlič (bronze medal at the 2021 Championship with a performance of 8:31.600) and Andrej Ropret (personal best of 10:31) of Slovenia, Budimir Buda Šobat of Croatia (8:95 personal best), Laurent de Beaucaron of France (who recently performed a personal best of 9:31) and Ibrahim Al Salatni (9:22 personal best) of Oman.
Among the women, all of the strongest athletes of last year’s Championship will be competing again this year. They are French athletes Sylvie Gilson (2021 CMAS World Champion in STA with a performance of 8:06:365) and Béatrice Rouvier (2021 CMAS Vice-World Champion in STA with 7:32:270), Heike Schwerdtner of Germany (bronze medal at the 2021 Championship with 7:08:215) and Kateřina Šuranská of the Czech Republic (7:06:795 at the 2021 Championship). Also, another capable woman who may have an outstanding performance this year is Chinese athlete Lisa Zhang (attemped to hold her breath for 8:16:815 in the 2021 Championship but blacked out).
Speed disciplines
So-called ‘speed disciplines’ emerged from classic finswimming. At first, athletes began competing in finswimming in the 1960s with the first world championship in finswimming held in 1976. The main idea of these competitions is to swim a particular distance in a particular style as fast as possible. Among the finswimming disciplines, there are two which are very similar to apnea. Apnea finswimming involves an athlete attempting to swim a distance of 50m (164ft) underwater as fast as possible using a monofin. Immersion finswimming with breathing apparatus is performed for distances of 100m (328ft) and 400m (1,312ft).
In 2015, CMAS introduced speed disciplines such as Speed Apnea 100m, which is where an athlete needs to swim 100m (328ft) underwater as fast as possible. Endurance Apnea 8x50m involves an athlete swimming 8 laps of a 50m (164ft) pool underwater, breathing only at each side of the pool. Endurance Apnea 16x50m requires athletes to swim 16 laps of a 50m pool underwater with breathing allowed only at the sides of the pool.
Once the disciplines were introduced, freedivers tried to perform in them, but most did not manage successfully. Only a few professional freedivers won medals in speed disciplines including Alexey Molchanov and Evgeniy Saurov of Russia. Alexey Molchanov won a bronze medal in Endurance 16x50 at the 2018 CMAS Freediving World Championship in Lignano Sabbiadoro and Evgeniy Saurov won the bronze medal in Endurance 8x50 at the CMAS European Championship in 2019. However, we should remember that these two athletes came into freediving from finswimming and professional swimming backgrounds, so it seems that their medals prove the fact that finswimmers are more likely to be successful in speed apnea than freedivers.
Another example of the mix in disciplines is German athlete Max Poschart. He won several medals at CMAS European and World Championships and set world records in both Endurance 8x50 and 16x50. Just recently, Max set another record at the 16th CMAS Finswimming World Cup in Leipzig. His new World Record was set in the finswimming discipline 100m Surface Men in the relay of 4x100m surface with a time of 33.71).
Fortunately for ‘speed freedivers’ (finswimmers who participate in freediving competitions), Max will not be participating in this year’s CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship in Belgrade as well as the entire team of Russian finswimmers who won 13 medals in speed disciplines last year. Therefore, the strongest finswimmers at the 2022 Championship are Angelo Sciacca of Italy, who won 2 silver medals at the 2021 Championship in Endurance 16x50 and 8x50, and Angelo’s teammate Erica Barbon, who also won 2 silver medals last year in Endurance 8x50 and Speed 100m.
Although we feel we can predict the main winners quite easily, we are still hoping that promising new names can emerge at this year’s Championship. Will you be placing any bets? Let us know who your favorite is in the comments below and let’s cheer on the athletes together during the online broadcast! The show starts soon, don’t miss it!
Competition Day 1 (12 June)
Starting Protocols for DNF and Speed-Endurance 16x50m
Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you the starting protocols for the first competition day at the 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship.
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The athletes with shorter distances will compete first, while the athletes with longer distances will compete last. This means that, according to the start list, we have correctly guessed who the strongest women are! The final four athletes that will perform are Livia Bregonzio of Italy, Julia Kozerska and Magdalena Solich-Talanda of Poland, and Mirela Kardašević of Croatia. The official Top time for these athletes is 9:56 a.m. Belgrade local time (GMT+2). Set your alarms to witness the strongest woman become the CMAS World Champion!
We also correctly predicted the favorites among the men. The final four athletes who will dive toward the World Championship title will be Vanja Peleš and Vitomir Maričić of Croatia, Mateusz Malina of Poland, and Guillaume Bourdila of France.
Although all of the athletes are very strong and extremely capable of showing extraordinary performances, we are still betting that Mateusz Malina will win. His current record is more than 10m (33ft) further than the top records of his closest competitors - Vanja Peleš (CMAS World Champion in DNF in 2021 with 226.3m/742ft) and Guillaume Bourdila (CMAS Vice-World Champion in DNF in 2021 and CMAS World Champion and World Record holder in 2019 with 236m/774ft). The main question concerning Mateusz is whether he will attempt to set a new CMAS World Record in DNF or be content with simply aiming for the gold medal. For us, a new world record seems very probable!
The official top time for these four male athletes in this discipline is 11:50 a.m. Belgrade local time (GMT+2). However, considering how eager the athletes may be to win the race to the podium and how intense the competition will be, we also suggest you pay close attention to the four men performing just before: Boris Milošić of Croatia, Willian Joy (Ming Jin) of China, and Olivier Elu and Romain Hinfray of France. If any of the top four make the smallest mistake, the latter have a good chance of stealing a medal and stepping onto the podium. Make sure you don’t miss the performances!
After a two-hours break the Championship will resume. Athletes will compete in Speed-Endurance 16x50m. Italian team is the strongest one in speed disciplines at the Championship, among them the biggest chance to win Angelo Sciacca has. Lat year Angelo become the Vice-Champion in Endurance 16x50m. We wish Angelo luck to get the gold medal this time!
We also would like to draw your attention to the fact that most freedivers do not receive government funding to train and must combine their training routine with a 9-to-5 job. A common day in the life of a competitive freediver may involve early-morning training in the pool, work in the office, late-evening training in the gym, and so on, for six days a week! Therefore, every freediver who made their way to this year’s Championship are superheroes and their dedication and achievements must be recognized! You may do so by watching the broadcast and cheering for your favorite athlete online!
The live broadcast will start at 9 a.m. (Belgrade local time) on this channel:
New CMAS World Record in DNF
On June 12th, 2022, Julia Kozerska of Poland set a new CMAS World Record in DNF with an outstanding performance of 210m (689ft)!
The previous CMAS World Record in this discipline of 196.95m (646ft) also belonged to Julia, which she set in 2019 at the CMAS Freediving Indoor European Championship in Istanbul. However, at the 2021 Championship, Mirela Kardašević of Croatia won the gold medal, with Magdalena Solich-Talanda of Poland coming in second and leaving Julia with the bronze medal.
We were amazed to witness Julia winning back her position at the top with her new world record and leaving her competitors far behind! Julia performed in the last round of four athletes at the 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship in Belgrade together with the strongest athletes: Livia Bregonzio of Italy, Magdalena Solich-Talanda of Poland, and Mirela Kardašević of Croatia. Mirela earned herself second place after Julia with a distance of 200m (656ft).
Julia's result also surpassed the current AIDA World record in DNF (207m/679ft) set by Magdalena Solich-Talanda in May 2022. So now, Julia has the so-called absolute World Record in DNF, making history in freediving!
Congratulations on your fantastic performance, Julia! We’re looking forward to seeing your future achievements!
Official Results in DNF and Speed-Endurance 16x50m
June 12th at the 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship was a typical day for a freediving championship - full of emotions from the entire spectrum, from delight after a well-deserved victory to dismay after a devastating loss. Yes - freediving competitions can indeed be very engaging and passionate!
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In the beginning, we watched the women’s performances and everything went more or less as planned. There were no blackouts and only 2 red cards out of 23 performances (2 athletes didn't manage the surface protocol due to their aiways dipping beneath the surface). María Verónica Córdova of Ecuador set a new CMAS Panamerican Continental record with a performance of 150m (492ft). Congratulations, Maria!
Of course, most viewers were eager to see the performances of the last heat where four of the strongest female athletes competed. These awesome women completely surpassed all of our expectations! Mirela Kardašević of Croatia and Magdalena Solich-Talanda of Poland dived on parallel lines and finished with less than a 2-meter (7-foot) difference of 200m (656ft) and 198.69m (652ft), respectively. As a result, Mirela won the silver and Magdalena earned the bronze medal.
Unfortunatelly, underwater cameras were set only on two out of the four lines, therefore, an outstanding performance from Julia Kozerska of Poland was not captured during the broadcast. But we assure you, it was beautiful! Julia confidently finished at 210m (689ft) and won herself the gold medal, improving her own world record in DNF by setting a new CMAS World Record. It's remarkable that she managed to improve upon her previous record, achieved at the CMAS Freediving Indoor European Championship in Istanbul, by more than 13m (43ft)! Well done, Julia!
Among the men, Mateusz Malina of Poland predictably won with a performance of 233.8m (767ft), which is only 2.2m (7ft) less than the current 236m (774ft) CMAS World Record in DNF set by French athlete Guillaume Bourdila (2019 CMAS Freediving Indoor European Championship in Istanbul). Oddly enough, the CMAS World Record holder himself, Guillaume, only managed a 210.7m (691ft) distance, which brought him the bronze medal. The silver medal went to Vanja Peleš of Croatia for his fantastic performance of 227.3m (746ft). The other two strong DNF athletes who we also predicted to compete for medals - Vitomir Maričić of Croatia and Olivier Elu of France - executed quite modest results for themselves. Vitomir had a complicated finish at 183.7m (603ft) with a heavy samba and Olivier blacked out at 203.4m (667ft).
In the second part of the day, athletes competed in Endurance Apnea 16x50m. This discipline involves them swimming 16 laps of a 50m (164ft) pool underwater as fast as possible, with rest only allowed at each side of the pool. The strongest athletes from Germany (Max Poschart) and Russia (Mikhail Drozdov) did not participate in this Championship, therefore, we were almost 100% sure that Italian athlete Angelo Sciacca (2021 Vice-Champion in Endurance 16x50m and 8x50m) would win the race. Unfortunately, Angelo fell ill; therefore, Turkish athlete Derin Toparlak won the race with a respectable result of 9:37.61, which is only 0:27.58 longer than the current CMAS World record in Endurance 16x50 set by German finswimmer Max Poschart at the 2019 CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship. It seems that even Derin himself did not expect his own victory and was very surprised to see his own result at the finish. In freediving, the proverb ‘do what you can and let be what should be’ works very well!
Among the women in Endurance 16x50, the first competitor to finish was Italian athlete Chiara Zaffaroni with a performance of 11:08.68. Second came Yulia Chumak of Ukraine with 11:37.25, and Jindřiška Zajacová of Czech Republic received the bronze medal, completing the race with a 12:25.55 performance.
We congratulate all the athletes with new world records and personal bests! Thank you all for the exhilarating show and unforgettable emotions - it was a pleasure to witness and we are looking forward to what is coming next! This was just the first day of 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship, so stay tuned!
Competition Day 2 (13 June)
Starting Protocols for DYN BF
June 13th is the second day of the 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship. Athletes will compete in Dynamic Apnea with Bi-fins (DYN BF).
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An unpredictable factor in DYN BF is another Croatian athlete, Boris Milošić. He produced several great results in the past; however, he has not competed in a while and did not show up on the first day of the Championship. Will he compete today and can he surprise us with an outstanding performance? We’re very enthusiastic to see it!
Among the strongest women in the last heat, we have Mirela Kardašević of Croatia and Magdalena Solich-Talanda. The women have a very small spread between their best performances in DYN BF, so we may very well get the chance to witness an epic rivalry. Magdalena and Mirela have both set new world records in DYN BF with 243m (797ft) performances. Mirela executed her dive according to CMAS competition rules in March 2022 while Magdalena performed her 243m dive according to AIDA competition rules in May 2022. We can't wait to see them to compete! But wait - there is a new name as well! French athlete Marianna Gillespie won a gold medal at the CMAS Freediving Indoor French Championship with a dive to 218.87m (718ft), which places her in the top four women of the Championship and also gives her the chance to win a medal today. The other strong DYN BF athletes among the women are Magalie Siterre of France (with a 226.92m/744ft official personal best and silver medal at the 2019 CMAS European Championship), Livia Bregonzio of Italy (personal best of 221.65m/727ft and a bronze medal at the 2019 CMAS European Championship), and Lisa Zhang of China (225m/738ft personal best in 2021).
The broadcast starts at 9am (GMT+). Official Top time for the men’s final heat is 10:40am and the last heat for women will be at 12:10 p.m. Belgrade local time (GMT+2). Don’t miss it! We wish all of the athletes plenty of luck and serenity - may the strongest win!
New CMAS World Record in DYN BF
On June 13th, French athlete Guillaume Bourdila set a new CMAS World record in DYN BF with a very strong and beautiful dive to 274.7m (901ft)!The previous world record of 264.70m (868ft) in the discipline belonged to Vitomir Maričić of Croatia.
Guillaume dived in the last heat with the strongest athletes of the discipline - Mateusz Malina of Poland, Vitomir Maričić of Croatia, and Ming Jin (William Joy) of China. Guillaume’s lane ran parallel to the lane of his main rival, Mateusz, who is the current AIDA World Record holder in DYNB with 290m (951ft).
In fact, we had predicted that Mateusz would be the one to set a new world record today. However, Guillaume had a different plan! He swam much faster than Mateusz, finishing several minutes before him but 67cm (26in) further! It was absolutely epic to watch and a very intriguing performance - only 67 centimetres determined the new CMAS World Record!
A massive congratulations to Guillaume! Thank you for these incredible emotions and a spectacular show - we wish you to always be as lucky as you were today! If you didn't catch today's competition broadcast, we recommend you at least check out this last heat of dives - they are definitely worth watching! It's a freediving thriller of all time!
New CMAS World Record in DYN BF (female)
The New CMAS World record in DYN BF is now 250m (820ft)!Mirela Kardasevic of Croatia did it again! Mirela set a previous CMAS World Record of 243m (797ft) in the discipline less than a month ago. But her having a very powerful competitor - Magdalena Solich-Talanda of Poland with the same performance achieved according to AIDA rules - right at her heels, Mirela needed to secure her position and improve her own record in order to win the race and earn the World Champion title. And she managed it successfully! Now Mirela’s record is 1.3m (4ft) further than Magdalena’s.
Congratulations, Mirela, on the beautiful dive! Good luck with your next performance at the Championship!
Official Results for DYN BF
June 13th in Belgrade at the 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship was a truly remarkable day!
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The first half of the day began with the men. Until the last heat, the competition was going in quite a calm and steady pace with only 3 blackouts out of 39 athletes. Then, in last heat, Vitomir Maričić of Croatia surfaced at 130.9m (429ft) because of a reported spasm in his arm, leading him to receive a red card and losing his chance at a medal.
After that, all of our attention zeroed in on the three strongest athletes left: Mateusz Malina of Poland, Guillaume Bourdila of France, and Ming Jin (William Joy) of China. We had the chance to compare the diving approaches of Mateusz (AIDA World Record holder with 290m/951ft) and Guillaume Bourdila. Guillaume swam quite fast, making several strong kicks followed by a propulsion phase while Mateusz swam in a very relaxed manner, working his bifins evenly and never pausing his finning. Although Guillaume began his dive several meters ahead of Mateusz, the distance between them slowly widened.
In the end, Guillaume finished first with the result of 274.7m (901ft) and then several minutes later, Mateusz also completed his attempt in almost the same spot as Guillaume. Fortunately for the French athete, he ended up 67 centimeters further than Mateusz. This small difference made him the new CMAS World Record holder in DYN BF, leaving Mateusz in the second place.
Chinese athlete and student of Mateusz Malina, Ming Jin (William Joy), landed in third place with a 251.6m (825ft) performance.
In total, 14 men managed to swim at least 200m (656ft) or more! Among the women, the same performances were completed by seven athletes, including Mirela Kardašević of Croatia, who improved upon her previous CMAS World Record by 6.3m (21ft) with a 250m (820ft) performance. The third place athlete on the men's pedestal in this discipline made it only 1.6m (5ft) further than Mirela. It's incredible!
By the way, did you notice that Mirela, Mateusz Malina, and Ming Jin all dived without a mask, goggles, and nose clip? As far as we know, both Mirela and Ming are Malina's students and follow his strategy of diving. We assume that the main reason of diving without anything on the face is to evoke the mammalian diving reflex (MDR) as soon as possible. If you remember from your freediving classes (if not, then maybe this is the time to take one!), we have receptors in our faces and especially in our noses that “switch on” the diving reflex as soon as they come into contact with water. The MDR is the human body's adaptation to being underwater - it includes a significant drop in heart rate, the redistribution of blood flow and volume towards vital organs, and a release of red blood cells carrying oxygen. This means that the faster and stronger a human's MDR is, the further that human can dive. However, there are downsides to the MDR. For example, you may feel a strong urge to inhale much earlier. And of course, it's not very comfortable to swim with water in your nose!
Second place among the women, with not much shorter of a distance (248.7m/816ft), belongs to Polish athlete Magdalena Solich-Talanda. Similar to her teammate Mateusz Malina, Magdalena is an AIDA World Record holder in DYN BF, recently achieving a 243m (797ft) distance and making her Mirela’s main competitor in this discipline.
We have to admit that freediving is becoming a sport where not only several meters, but even centimetres matter and can cost an athlete a world record and World Champion title.
Third place among the women was well-deserved, going to Italian athlete Livia Bregonzio with her performance of 240.6m (789ft).
We also would like to draw your attention at the performance of María Verónica Cordova Mancheno of Ecuador, who set a new CMAS Panamerican record in DYN BF with a 225.3m (739ft) performance and made her the fifth strongest woman in the discipline this year. At last year’s Championship, María achieved a white card with her dive to 209.25m (687ft). In only a year, she made an incredible improvement - we wish her luck to win a medal next year!
We congratulate all the athletes with new records and personal bests! Thank you all for the exhilarating show and unforgettable emotions - it was a pleasure to witness and we are looking forward to what is coming next! This was the second day of 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship, so stay tuned!
Competition Day 3 (14 June)
Starting protocols for STA and Speed 100m
On June 14th, 2022, in Belgrade, competition day 3 of the CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship STA and Speed 100m will commence.
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According to CMAS rules, the first signal should be given one minute before the target time (Announced Performance or PB), the second should be given 30 seconds before the target time, and the third signal at 15 seconds before the target time, with the last signal being given at the actual target time. After the target time is reached and for every 15 seconds the performance continues, signals are given.
The broadcast starts at 9 a.m. Belgrade local time (GMT+2) and the women will perform first. The strongest female athletes Sylvie Gilson (2021 CMAS World Champion in STA with a performance of 8:06:365) and Béatrice Rouvier (2021 CMAS Vice-World Champion in STA with 7:32:270) of France, Kateřina Šuranská of the Czech Republic (7:06:795 at the 2021 Championship) and Lisa Zhang of China (attemped to hold her breath for 8:16:815 in the 2021 Championship but blacked out) will perform in the last heat - their Top time is 10:33 a.m local time (GMT+2).
Make sure you also don’t miss the performances of the strongest athletes in STA, which are Alan Pavlič (bronze medal at the 2021 Championship with a performance of 8:31.600) and Andrej Ropret (personal best of 10:31) of Slovenia, Budimir Buda Šobat of Croatia (8:95 personal best), Laurent de Beaucaron of France (who recently performed a personal best of 9:31), and Ibrahim Al Salatni (9:22 personal best) of Oman. The athletes will begin their attempts at 12:33 p.m. local time (GMT+2). But watch out for Andrej Ropert of Slovenia with biggest official personal best among the competitors - he will participate in 15th heat and his Top time is 12:03 local time (GMT+2).
And of course, we are looking forward to see the performance of our wonderful commentator Brandon Reed, who today will be also an athlete representing the US National team. Good luck, Brandon! We are rooting for you!
In the second part of the day, athletes will compete in a speed discipline - the Speed 100m. The task is to swim 100m (328ft) underwater as fast as possible. Considering that the strongest finswimmers from German and Russian speed teams aren’t present at the Championship, it’s very likely that we will see new names among the winners, however, we are sure that they will be finswimmers, not freedivers. To be more specific, we think the athletes with the biggest chance to win are the four Italian finswimmers in the last heat of the Speed 100. If we have to choose one athlete to root for, let it be Angelo Sciacca. Good luck, Angelo! We hope you managed to recover 🙂
Top time for the athletes is 3:56 p.m. local time (GMT+2).
Among the women, we are looking forward to seeing the performance of French athlete Erica Barbon, who also won 2 silver medals last year in Endurance 8x50 and Speed 100m, and the athletes from Ukraine. The Top time for these women is 3:21 p.m. local time (GMT+2).
The live broadcast will start at 9 a.m. Belgrade local time (GMT+2).
Official results for STA and Speed 100m
On June 14th at the CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship in Belgrade, athletes competed in STA and Speed Apnea 100m.
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The top four performances achieved by women featured the same women from the 2021 Championship - just in a different order. Heike Monika Schwerdtner of Germany took first place with a 8:10.52 result (in 2021, she won the bronze medal with a time of 7:08:215). Sylvie Gilson of France came in third with 7:56.59 (gold medal at the 2021 Championship with a 8:06:365 performance), and another Franch athlete Béatrice Rouvier, who was the Vice-Champion in STA in 2021 with 7:32:270, came in fourth this year with a 07:30.44 result.
The main difference is that, in the club of STA-focused athletes, DNF World Record holder Julia Kozerska of Poland managed to sneak in. Julia held her breath for 08:01.02 and won a silver medal. An incredible performance!
It is commonly believed that the older you get, the slower your metabolism becomes and the general oxygen consumption by body tissues becomes lower, making it easier for you to achieve great results in STA. Nevertheless, hard work and regular training still pays off and earns you some pretty amazing results!
The Ecuadorian freediving star María Verónica Córdova Mancheno, who already set two new CMAS Panamerican records in previous days, set one more record today - 7:03.51, improving her previous performance by 25 seconds.
The men's results turned out to be less predictable. Several athletes with very high results achieved this year did not manage to emulate their performances at the world championship, showing very modest results instead. We believe that they simply did not manage well with competition stress. Consequently, in third place is young Croatian athlete Boris Milošić, who managed to hold his breath for 08:03.48, and the silver medal went to Laurent de Beaucaron of France for his performance of 08:58.42. A very well-deserved gold medal and the CMAS World Champion title went to Budimir Buda Šobat, who did not take a breath for 09:12.71!
Budimir is famous for his Guinness World Record breath-hold, which was performed using oxygen beforehand - he managed to stop breathing for 24:33! However, at freediving competitions, Budimir's results have been quite modest. Having participated in the World Championships for 9 years since 2013, he only once managed to get a bronze medal at the 2018 CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship for a performance of 8:17.815
Today, Budimir proved to everyone that he is the strongest STA athlete indeed, confidently performing his breath-hold for a remarkable 09:12.71. We heartily congratulate the new CMAS World Champion - Budimir Buda Šobat! We believe that next time, Budimir has a good chance at renewing a STA CMAS World Record as well, which has remained unchanged since 2017. He only has 1:32 more to go, and we believe you can do it, Budimir!
Speed discipline performances suffered the biggest loss due to the absence of Russia’s national team and the male part of the Ukraine national team. Erica Barbon of Italy, the Vice-Champion in 2021, didn't miss her chance at the gold medal. Ukrainian athletes Katerina Vashchenko and Diana Radchenko won second and third place, respectively.
It was almost impossible to make a forecast for the winners among the men since last year, the first 5 places belonged to the athletes from Russia (1st - 3rd places) and Ukraine (4th - 5th places). As a result, the athletes who came in 7th and 11th places last year made it to the podium this year. Italian athletes Lorenzo Caronno and Angelo Sciacca won the gold and silver medal respectively with times of 34:65 and 35:37. Third place is held by Turkish athlete Derin Toparlak, who managed the distance with 35:47.
We congratulate all the athletes with medals and World Champion titles! This was the third day of 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship - more than a half of the Championship is over and we are looking forward to seeing what excitement the last day may bring! Stay tuned!
Competition Day 4 (15 June)
Starting Protocols for DYN and Speed-Endurance 8x50m
On June 15th, 2022, in Belgrade, competition day 4 of the CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship DYN and Endurance 8x50 will commence.
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In DYN, the main favorite is still Polish athlete Mateusz Malina, who has already won a gold medal in DNF and a silver medal in DYN BF. However, French athlete Guillaume Bourdila, who set a new CMAS World record in DYN BF on the second day of the Championship, will be a serious rival to him. Famous for his long performances in China and super-long training dives, the student of Mateusz Malina - Ming Jing (William Joy) - has not yet managed to display results that are close to his personal bests at the Championship. But perhaps on the final day, William will cope with the championship anxiety and will be able to compete for the CMAS World Champion title with his mentor. Top time for the athletes is 11 a.m. Beglrade local time (GMT+2)
If any one of these above three athlete makes a mistake, Boris Milošić, Olivier Elu, Vanja Peleš, and Andrey Ropret (who had compelling performances in local competitions but has not yet made any notable performance in this competition) may also compete for a medal.
We admit, there are few changes from our original forecast among the women in DYN. Mirela Kardašević of Croatia and Magdalena Solich-Talanda of Poland still have very close results and the main competition for gold is likely to be between them. However, Livia Bregonzo of Italy may also make an appearance among the top performers. And although the new CMAS World Record holder in DNF, Julia Kozerska of Poland, has contrasting style of monofin technique and set of results compared to the other top women we just mentioned, she may still surprise us as she already has with her two outstanding performances earlier in competition. We think she may impose on the rivalry for the medals, making the competition even hotter!
If Chinese athlete Benben (Lisa) Zhang overcomes her competition stress and manages to perform at her full potential, then she may also count on a medal, as well as French athlete Magalie Sittere.
The Top time for last two heats of the strongest female athletes is 12:30 p.m. local time (GMT+2).
On the pedestal in Endurance 8x50, we await the same athletes from the previous 2 days - Erica Barbon and Chiara Zaffaroni of Italy and Derin Toparlak of Turkey. We also hope that Angelo Sciacca had a good rest and recovery after an unsuccessful competition in Endurance 16x50 and will be able to perform at full capacity! In this scenario, Angelo would the most likely be the winner.
The live broadcast will start at 9 a.m. Belgrade local time (GMT+2):
New CMAS World Record in DYN (male)
Mateusz Malina of Poland has again proven himself to be the best, satisfying all of our hopes and expectations by setting a new and incredible CMAS World Record in DYN by swimming 321.43m (1,055ft) with a monofin on one breathe.
It took him about 4 minutes and 50 seconds of glory and two years of toil. After a complicated and dubious story with doping, Mateusz was suspended from freediving competitions for 2 years. This Championship is the comeback of a great freediver into competitive freediving and we are very glad to see him in a good spirit and shape! There is no doubt that, during his two-year suspension, Malina did not rest, but continued training and improving his results no matter the circumstance. Today is the day that all of his efforts paid off.
For some background on the history of CMAS DYN World Records, French athlete Arthur Guérin-Boëri was the first person to officially break the 300m (984ft) barrier in DYN in 2016. While Mateusz Malina and Giorgios Panagiotakis also swam 300m in AIDA competitions later that year, it was only three years later that Mateusz Malina managed to turn and swim further with his performance of 316.53m (1,038ft) at the 2019 CMAS Freediving Indoor European Championship in Istanbul - a great breakthrough and a fantastic day in freediving history.
This means that in total, for a period of time between 2019 - 2022, Mateusz Malina improved the top DYN performance in the world by 21.43m (70ft). It is truly inspiring. Congratulations, maestro - we hope that this is not your last accomplishment and that you will continue to go further!
New CMAS World Record in DYN (female)
At this year’s CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship, Mirela Kardašević of Croatia set a new world record in DYN by swimming 275m (902ft) with a monofin on one breath.
Mirela is a very experienced athlete - she came into freediving from swimming, and therefore, has a nearly impeccable swimming technique. Mirela has been participating in freediving competitions since 2017 and has already managed to set in 11 world records in total.
With this new world record, Mirela has improved upon a previous CMAS World Record in DYN, set in the 2021 Championship by Magdalena Solich-Talanda of Poland, by 10m (32ft). However, even this outstanding result is not yet a limit. The world record in DYN, set according to AIDA rules, is 277m (909ft), and it also belongs to Magdalena.
There is no doubt that if Mirela and Magdalena continue their training and friendly competition between each other, then soon (or at least at the next Championship) we might be able to witness new breathtaking achievements beyond human limits.
Conratulations, Mirela - may force, patience, and determination be with you in each of your training sessions and competition performances!
Official Results for DYN and Speed-Endurance 8x50m
The final day of the CMAS Freediving Indoor Championship was as exhilarating as ever - two new CMAS World Records and two new CMAS Panamerican records. Freedivers never stop amazing us with their potential.
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Also as forecasted, the silver medal went to Guillaume Bourdila (286.8m/941ft) and the bronze went to William Joy (279.16m/916ft). Admittedly, we anticipated that William would cover a greater distance since his official personal best is very close to 300m (984ft) - 296m (971ft). Nevertheless, his achieving two bronze medals (the first bronze medal was in DYN BF) in the second World Championship of his freediving career is a very praiseworthy result. Congratulations, William!
The women also performed quite predictably. As we expected, the main rivalry was between Mirela Kardašević of Croatia and Magdalena Solich-Talanda of Poland, with both athletes having very close official personal best results before the beginning of the Championship. But it seems that Mirela arrived to the competition in better shape, managing to win a gold medal and set a new CMAS World record in DYN - 275.36m (903ft). Magdalena did not seem to reach her true potential in this discipline (her current AIDA World record in DYN is 277m/909ft), yet captured a silver medal for her 262.78m (862ft) performance.
Third place could have gone to Livia Bregonzio of Italy, who swam 263.8m (865ft), however Livia seemed to exceed her limits on her dive and was not able to complete it properly. She received a red card and was disqualified.
As a result, the bronze medal went to the CMAS World Record holder in DNF, Julia Kozerska of Poland, for her performance of 256m (840ft).
Endurance 8x50 was the last discipline performed in this Championship. Therefore, many freedivers decided to try their luck in the speed discipline. Mateusz Malina competed in this discipline for the first time and ended up with a fairly good result. However, we cannot expect a top performance from him after setting a 321.43m world record on the same day.
William Joy swam a 50m (164ft) distance eight times for a total of 4:54.92. This remained the top result until the last heat, when finswimmers entered the competition and topped William's performance, proving that a freediver does not stand a chance in speed disciplines against finswimmers. So, in first place came Derin Toparlak of Turkey, who swam the total distance in 3:54.53. A bit later, Italian athletes Giuseppe Fusto and Angelo Sciacca clocked their own performances in at 4:02.64 and 4:09.90, respectively.
Although, finswimmers have a big advantage in speed disciplines in comparison with freedivers, the result of the winner is almost 30 seconds slower than the current CMAS World Record in Endurance 8x50m (3:25.720), which set by Mikhail Drozdov at the 2019 CMAS Freediving Indoor European Championship.
Among the women, the race was also dominated by finswimmers, although freedivers also attempted to compete. Chiara Zaffaroni of Italy won the gold medal (4:40.0) and was only 8 seconds away from the current CMAS world record. Yulia Chumak of Ukraine won the silver medal (4:48.46), and in third place, Jindřiška Zajacová (the daughter of freediving trainer Martin Zajac) managed to sneak in with a 05:06.09 result.
Also, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that, for the first time at the Indoor Championship, Masters (optional category to perform under for athletes 50 years and older) and Junior (17 years old) categories were presented. In most cases, there were only one or two athletes in each category. We hope that in the next competitions, the number of participants will be higher. Age is not an obstacle in freediving - many athletes older than 50 performed in the senior category. The oldest freediver in the Championship at 71 years old, Japec Jakopin, has shown very notable results that would even be impressive for the senior category (ages 18- 49): DYNBF - 164m (538ft), STA - 07:05, DYN - 186m (610ft). Japec's result in STA would be in the top ten among senior men.
We congratulate all of the athletes once again with new world, continental, national, and personal records. Thank you for being our inspiration and we hope that you keep the determination to push human limits and to erase the term "impossible" from the dictionary. This is the way!
On this, we announce that the 2022 CMAS Freediving Indoor World Championship is over! Thank you for your attention and see you at the next competition!
Looking forward to the coverage! Good luck to everyone competing and all those involved in the event :)
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