With an ease that belies the strength and discipline needed to accomplish the record-setting dives she has achieved, Rosibel Molina takes you by surprise.
Born in Cuba, Molina’s inaugural competitive event found her successfully ousting a previous record belonging to fellow Cuban national, Deborah Andollo, for constant weight — while simultaneously setting a couple of new records in the disciplines of static apnea and constant no-fins (CNF).
On May 11th, 2010 using a mono-fin and mask at Performance Freediving International’s 5th annual Cayman competition, Rosibel Molina nabbed the title of Cuba’s deepest woman with a constant weight (CWT) dive to 66m / 216 ft. On May 12th she grabbed the new Cuban record for static apnea with a successful breath hold of six minutes and three seconds. To cap it all off, Molina completed a CNF dive to 36 meters, garnering her yet another national record.
Rosibel Molina Cuban National record, CWT from Performance Freediving on Vimeo.
A former PFI student and proud mother, Rosibel manifests a tremendous adaptation to competitive freediving. And it would seem that her lucky number is SIX – she chose 66m to win the CWT national title; she posted a clean static apnea for six+ minutes; a CNF dive ending in six; she took her first freediver course on the sixth day of the month in 2009, and her overall first-place winning score in the “Déjà Blue 2010” competition, of course ended with a six!
It remains to be seen how AIDA will handle Molina’s Cuban records, as there is no Cuban national arm of AIDA — but with residency in the U.S. and a flock of American supporters, it would not be a surprise if the natural talents of Rosibel Molina end up on team U.S.A.
