Day 6 of the AIDA Depth World Championships in Cyprus saw Russia’s Alexey Molchanov bring home the men’s gold medal in the Free Immersion (FIM) discipline, despite earning a yellow card.
Molchanov, competing as an independent athlete, successfully dove to 130m/427ft and touched the bottom plate, but didn’t grab the required tag and subsequently got a yellow card and one-point penalty. Still, that was enough for a gold medal.
Croatia’s Petar Klovar had announced a depth of 128m/420ft but turned around at the 126m/413ft mark. His clean surface protocol resulted in only a three-point deduction, good enough for the silver medal.
Oman’s Omar Al Ghailani and France’s Abdelatif Alouach each announced and successfully dove to 110m/361ft, earning both of them bronze medals. Not only was this Al Ghailani’s second AIDA medal, having earned silver in the Constant Weight No Fins discipline, it also set a new National Record.
Red Cards
Only three competitors earned red cards on this day: Croatia’s Budimir Buda Sobat dove to 81m/267ft but suffered a blackout during his ascent at around the 5m/16ft mark. The safety team, as always, was there and whisked him back to the surface, where he quickly recovered.
India’s Bux Khurana, a newbie at the depth World Championships, dove to his announced depth of 71m/233ft but suffered a brief blackout upon surfacing.
Costa Rica’s Hans Hernandez dove to 65m/213ft, but received a red card for an incorrect surface protocol.
National Records
On a happier note, in addition to Al Ghailani, six other national records were set, including:
- Martin Ruman (Slovakia) — 107m/351ft
- Jihoon Jang (South Korea) — 102m/335ft
- Kim Dahlgren (Sweden) — 93m/305ft
- Gonzalo Cortes Tavara (Peru) — 90m/295ft
- Mohammed Abdulla (Qatar) — 85m/279ft
- Alexandros Polemitis (Cyprus) — 75m/246ft
Check out the full results along with the video recap below.
