Orca freediving academy

What is your favorite way to do a turn in DYNb? If you want to the same as on the video, check the link in comments below

𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗔𝗕𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗨𝗧𝗘 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗟𝗗 𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗥𝗗 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗪𝗧

On June 30th, 2023, in Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, Alexey Molchanov dived 𝟭𝟯𝟯𝗺 (𝟰𝟯𝟲𝗳𝘁) deep with a monofin and set a new absolute CWT World Record (Constant Weight with a Monofin) according to CMAS rules.

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄?

The massive dive was performed during the 𝗖𝗠𝗔𝗦 𝟭𝟬𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗵 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 in the legendary place where modern freediving began. Here, in a small city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the first freediving courses took place in the 1990s: in 1996, Villefranche-sur-Mer hosted the first AIDA Freediving Championship and later the 26th AIDA World Championship in 2019. The site is also home to the French National team, who regularly trains and arranges National Championships there.

This may make you think that the location offers perfect conditions for freediving - and sometimes it does. But on June 30th, the air temperature was +20°C (68°F), the water temperature was +24°C (75°F), and there was a thermocline at 15m (49ft).

And yet, all of this didn't stop Alexey. The conditions didn't even make him think twice about using a warmer wetsuit. Alexey dived in a 𝗠𝗼𝗹𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘃𝘀 𝟭.𝟱𝗺𝗺 𝗣𝗥𝗢 𝗪𝗲𝘁𝘀𝘂𝗶𝘁 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲-𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 (coming soon!) and, of course, with his signature gold 𝗣𝗥𝗢 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗻 𝟰 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗯𝗼𝗻 (in foot pockets 4 sizes smaller than his shoe size for more control - can you imagine?)

The dive to 133m and back lasted for 𝟰 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟮𝟱 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀 and was captured by Diveye - enjoy (link in the first comment)!

And Guillaume Néry - famous French freediver and former world record holder - even assisted Alexey on the dive.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸!

Alexey's new record is 2m (7ft) deeper than his previous world-best dive in CWT of 𝟭𝟯𝟭𝗺 (𝟰𝟯𝟬𝗳𝘁), performed at Vertical Blue 2021. Alexey’s first world record in CWT was set in June 2012 with a dive to 𝟭𝟮𝟱𝗺 (𝟰𝟭𝟬𝗳𝘁) in Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt. Since then, all CWT world records in the past 11 years have belonged only to him.

But Alexey was the deepest man among competitive freedivers for only 10 out of the 11 years. Due to AIDA and CMAS banning Russian and Belarusian freediving athletes from participating in competitions at the beginning of 2022, Alexey was unable to perform in the 2022 competition season.

And Alexey's competitors didn't miss their chance to beat his records: in 2022, 𝗣𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿 𝗞𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗮𝗿 (𝗛𝗥𝗩) stole the title of the deepest man in the world by diving to 𝟭𝟯𝟮𝗺 (𝟰𝟯𝟯𝗳𝘁). However, he did so in the Free Immersion discipline (FIM).

But now it’s 2023, Alexey is back, and he seems more determined than ever to return to his position at the top. Alexey started the season with 2 new world records of 𝟭𝟱𝟯𝗺 (𝟱𝟬𝟮𝗳𝘁) and 𝟭𝟱𝟲𝗺 (𝟱𝟭𝟮𝗳𝘁) in the non-competitive discipline Variable Weight (VWT), then set a new absolute world record in CWTB with a 𝟭𝟮𝟭𝗺 (𝟯𝟵𝟳𝗳𝘁) dive with bifins. And now, at last, the golden man dived 133m deep with monofin and became the deepest man in the world again.

Congratulations, Alexey - we couldn't be more proud and happy to witness your outstanding performance. You are pure motivation and inspiration!

𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲

And it's not just a formal phrase. Perhaps the most exciting freediving news this year so far is that Alexey and Petar Klovar (and 40 of the other strongest freedivers) will be competing at Vertical Blue 2023! The rivals are absolutely worthy of each other, and we are afraid to imagine how deep they will go in the perfect conditions of Dean's Blue Hole, challenging the limits of the impossible and chasing the title of the deepest man in the world. We're excited and getting ready - 𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗲𝗱!