Australian Steyn Becomes 10th Person To Reach 100m

Posted By Sara-Lise Haith on Monday Apr 27, 2009 @ 05:23 in Freediving

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The Australian Freediving Association has announced that Walter Steyn has become the 10th person in history to have swum completely self powered to a depth of 100m and back on a single breath of air, in the Constant Weight competitive freediving discipline.

On April 10, 2009 Steyn, 36, dived to the depth during the Vertical Blue freedive competition held at Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas. The dive took 3 minutes and 12 seconds to complete, and was validated by AIDA (International Association for the Development of Apnea) International Judges Grant Graves and Linden Wolbert.

The Constant Weight discipline requires a freediver to hold their breath and dive to a nominated depth using a set of fins or a monofin. Once the freediver has reached the depth they must retrieve a tag and swim back to the surface, upon which they must complete a surface protocol within 15 seconds of them surfacing. Constant Weight is one of the most respected and contested disciplines in the sport.

Steyn set his latest record on the 8th day of competition, he had previously held the record at 77m but has broken it 5 times during Vertical Blue, including a 98m dive the previous day which left him fatigued and suffering from severe narcosis, a condition where the extreme pressure at depth causes intoxication and can leave a freediver mentally impaired whilst at depth. Steyn admitted that during his 98m dive he has suffered narcosis which made the dive much more difficult.

Steyn is also a Committee member and co-founder of the Australian Freediving Association, the Australian representative of AIDA International. On behalf of the Committee and its members we would like to congratulate Walter on his amazing accomplishments in the Bahamas .

The International Association for the Development of Freediving, AIDA, is the international sanctioning body for freediving, individual and team competition, and freediving world record attempts. For more information about AIDA please visit http://www.aida-international.org.

For more information on freediving in Australia , please visit http://www.australianfreediving.org.

Source: Ben Noble, President, Australian Freediving Association