Antero Joki is not a little man. He does not have what you would call the customary slim physique of a competitive freediver. Nor does he practice any of the orthodoxy that most of the athletes at Suunto Vertical Blue do, such as fasting & avoiding dairy products, or months of strength training, doing C02 tables or any stretching exercises. In fact the night before his record-setting dive to 80m free immersion (FIM) Antero ate a rather large meal complete with a half-gallon of ice-cream! Whatever his practice is, be it an aversion to training or what he jokingly says is “laziness” — it is working for him. On a day that saw three red cards and four “no-shows” Antero Joki ascended triumphantly to a new national record for Finland by completing his dive that took 3 minutes :20 seconds. Despite his muscular build and his large stature, Antero displays great elegance and fluidity in the water.
“My dive was perfect. I want more.” quipped Antero. A profoundly simple statement from a very no-nonsense freediver.
The 80m FIM is Antero’s second record of the competition. Watch the video below to see his 73m CNF record setting dive.
photo © Igor Liberti
