Apr 19, 2009-Pompano Beach, FL USA. The United States Apnea Association (USAA) is pleased to announce that Anthony Babowicz, a USAA member, set a new US national record in the freediving discipline of Dynamic Apnea No Fins with a swim of 139 meters / 456 feet while holding his breath on April 19, 2009. This performance surpasses the previous record of 117 meters / 384 feet held by Deron Verbeck set at the 2007 AIDA Pool Freediving World Championships in Slovenia.
This performance was realized during a record event at the Pompano Beach Aquatic Center in Florida arranged by Martin Stepanek and Freediving Instructors International. Tony’s performance took two minutes and thirty-five seconds to complete. His performance was completed in a 25 meter pool and verified by two AIDA judges. Doug Peterson, lead judge, reported the performance was valid and that Tony “made it look easy”.
Tony said of his performance: “All the credit should go to Martin Stepanek for this record. He has been an unselfish friend and a great coach. As a retired athlete, I had no intentions of competing at anything again, but now thanks to learning how to freedive properly, at 41 years old, I have an excuse to get off the couch. I like the fact that I am once again physically fit, and that I have found a sport that compliments my spearfishing. I look forward to pushing my limits in the pool, and hopefully deeper when I get my equalization dialed in. Another thanks to everyone that has helped me train. (Long list, you know who you are)”
Dynamic Apnea No Fins is performed by swimming without fins in a pool with the athlete holding their breath swimming as far as they can. Distance is measured with the use of a metered tape measure. The pool must be at least twenty-five yards long for the performance to be valid. Other disciplines include tests in depth and time.
The USAA is a nonprofit association founded on the democratic representation of freediving within the United States and internationally. Founded in 2003, the USAA consists of an active membership dedicated to furthering freediving in the United States and abroad. For more information about the USAA, the U.S. National Freediving Team, and membership please visit www.usfreediving.org.
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 AIDA International
Photo courtesy of Ocean Minds.
