This past week more than 40 freedivers from North and South America took over Veracruz, Mexico for the largest AIDA pool competition in the Western Hemisphere. Already at its 4th edition, the Olmeca Open drew competitors from Argentina, Canada, Colombia and Venezuela alongside the best Mexican athletes representing 7 different provinces.
Organized by AIDA Mexico in collaboration with Mundo Submarino Veracruz, the event benefits from top-caliber Olympic class installations at the Leyes de Reforma Aquatic Center featuring both a 50m pool for Dynamic and a shallow 25m one for Dynamic No Fins and Static.
Held over 3 days, the format of the competition allowed for athletes to really give their best, and as such we witnessed many impressive performances over the course of the championship.
After 5 months of intense training, Venezuelan athlete Antonio Del Duca hit his objective once again to set a new record, and he did so making it look easy. His massive 224m performance in DYN now stands as both the new South American Continental Record and Pan American record (as Antonio’s performance also surpasses anything set in the US or Canada.)
Ludmila Brzozowski‘s performance in Dynamic No Fins was inspired. The Argentinian freediver delivered a clean swim of 137m in DNF, setting not only a new national record for her country, but also a continental record for all of South America.
Other national records set during the open include:
- Alejandro Lemus STA 7:07 (Mexico)
- Alejandro Lemus DYN 201m (Mexico)
- Frida Ruiz Lemus DYN 158m (Mexico)
- Violeta Amapola 5:58 STA (Mexico)
- Ludmila Brzozowski 5:29 STA (Argentina)
- Ludmila Brzozowski 132m DYN (Argentina) – with bi-fins!
With such consistent high caliber performances, world-class installation, extensive experience running the competitions and a well-oiled machine on the logistics and accommodation side of things, the organizing committee of the Olmeca Open now finds itself in a position to grow this championship beyond the national level into a world class Pan-American competition.
Perhaps will we see a serious bid put forth to host the AIDA Pool World Championships for the first time in the Western Hemisphere in the near future?
