AIDA this week said its World Championship depth competition will take place this coming August, an announcement that has caused controversy within the freediving community.
The competition is slated for August 15th-25th, 2022 in Roatan, Honduras, according to a post on AIDA’s Facebook page.
The announcement hasn’t sat well, though.
Champion freediver William Trubridge, who organizes the Vertical Blue competition at Deans Blue Hole in the Bahamas which is slated to begin August 1st, said:
“Announcing dates 3 months out, and announcing a start for the [World Championship] that is 96 hours after the close of the biggest event on the freediving calendar ([Vertical Blue], dates for which were set last year) will mean that even fewer top athletes will attend the 2022 [World Championship] than last year.
“For similar reasons the AIDA WC has sadly been in decline since 2019, despite unprecedented amounts of AIDA funds being spent on it.”
Freediving instructor and former UK champion David Mellor said:
“Aida organisers please understand that many athletes are also instructors who need to earn money so they can attend an event like this.
“This is such short notice it is ridiculous, I myself and I’m sure many other athletes have teaching commitments which means we cannot attend.
“Can you explain why it has taken you so long to announce the date and then maybe you can fix whatever the problem is so it doesn’t happen again next year.”
Check out AIDA’s announcement here.
