Day 2 of the AIDA Depth World Championships in Cyprus saw the men take on the Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) discipline, with Croatia’s Petar Klovar taking home the gold medal and Russia’s Alexey Molchanov earning a red card.
Molchanov, competing as an independent athlete, had declared the deepest depth of 97m/318ft, but turned around 1 meter early and briefly blacked out upon surfacing.
Klovar, the current world record holder at 103m/338ft who declared the second-deepest goal of 90m/295ft, turned around early at the 88m/289ft mark and despite a clean surface protocol and a yellow card, was able to take home the gold.
In an Instagram reel, Klovar wrote:
“It turned out out to be one of the easiest gold medals I’ve won, but sometimes tactics and luck go your way.”
Oman’s Omar Al Ghailani successfully dove to 76m/249ft to earn the silver medal, while the USA’s Laurence Paik nabbed the bronze with his 75m/246ft dive.
Reflecting on his dive, Paik wrote on Instagram:
“I had a super strong, clean dive to a competition best 75m in CNF (No Fins discipline), which is the most challenging, technical, and pure expression of the sport.
“Big thanks to [Russ McBride] for coaching me in the water and for years of friendship!”
National Records
Seven new national records were set, including:
- Korea’s Jihoon Jang — 67m/220ft
- Israel’s Tom Peled — 67m/220ft
- Slovakia’s Martin Ruman — 65m/213ft
- Peru’s Gonzalo Cortes Tavara — 60m/197ft
- Hungary’s Marcell Bago — 60m/197ft
- Singapore’s Daniel Kwok — 56m/184ft
- Cyprus’s Alexandros Polemitis — 55m/180ft
Blackouts
Molchanov wasn’t the only athlete to suffer a blackout and need the help of the excellent safety divers on Day 2. Among them:
France’s Abdelatif Alouach dove to 82m/269ft but suffered a brief blackout after surfacing. His countryman Valere Normand dove to 55m/180ft and also had a blackout upon surfacing.
Germany’s Michael Sadowicz dove to 79m/259ft but suffered a deep blackout on his way up at around the 31m/102ft mark. The safety divers brought him back to the surface and transferred him to the evacuation boat where he regained consciousness.
South Korea’s Sungkyu Park dove to 60m/197ft but began pulling on the line at the 11m/36ft mark before briefly blacking out while the safety divers were helping him to the surface.
Croatia’s Budimir Buda Sobat dove to 56m/184ft, but began pulling on the line at the 13m/43ft mark and blacked out just as the safety divers were bringing him to the surface.
Check out the full results along with the video recap below.
