The final day of the men’s portion of the AIDA Depth World Championship off Limassol, Cyprus saw Russia’s Alexey Molchanov set a new world record in the Constant Weight with Fins (CWT) freediving discipline.
World Record
Molchanov, competing under no flag due to his country’s invasion of Ukraine, successfully dove to 136m/446ft.
In a brief interview on the livestream afterward, he said of his performance:
“For sure I had narcosis, I felt it, [but] overall, all in all, it was not really hard but I think I was confident, I didn’t feel any — yeah, on the surface I felt confident, solid, I didn’t feel … like again in previous discipline any samba or anything so it was good.”
CWT Medals
With Molchanov — pending doping results — getting the gold, France’s Abdelatif Alouach got the silver with his dive to 116m/525ft and Germany’s Fabio Tunno came in third — and set a new national record — with his dive to 109m/358ft.
National Records
In addition to Tunno, three other men’s national records were set on Day 8 of the competition.
Iran’s Amin Jadidi Fighan got his third national record of the competition — after setting ones in the Constant Weight with Bifins (CWTB) and Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) disciplines with a CWT dive to 80m/262ft.
Turkey’s Necati Gul put some earlier setbacks in the CNF and CWTB disciplines in the rear-view mirror to earn a white card and national record with his dive to 74m/243ft.
Latvia’s Deniss Lindovers added a second national record after his Free Immersion (FIM) one set on Day 6 with a CWT dive to 62m/203ft.
Depth Challenges
Not everyone going for a record or a place on the podium got what they wanted, though.
Russia’s Andrey Matveenko — also competing under no flag — successfully dove to 126m/413ft and would have earned a silver medal but for an incorrect surface protocol, resulting in a red card.
Oman’s Omar Al Ghailani, striving for a second national record, successfully dove to 110m/361ft but also drew a red card for an incorrect surface protocol.
Sweden’s Peter Balck was gunning for a 102m/335ft dive but drew a yellow card for turning back at the 99m/325ft mark.
Hungary’s Marcell Pago and Morocco’s Anas Chair both decided not to attempt their 60m/197ft and 52m/171ft record dives.
Overall Standings
In the overall standings in all four disciplines, Croatia’s Vitomir Maricic came in first with 381 points, his countryman Petar Klovar got silver with 364 points and Germany’s Fabio Tunno came in third with 350 points.
Results
Check out the full Day 8 results along with the video replay below.
(Featured Image credit: AIDA Depth World Championship & Diveye)
