It’s been an exacting and exciting nine days at Deans Blue Hole, but today Suunto Vertical Blue 2015 came to an end. The overall winners of this annual freediving competition are Sayuri Kinoshita of Japan and William Trubridge of New Zealand, taking home the gold with 286.96 and 300 total points respectively. The rest of the leader-board includes Tomoka Fukuda & Ryuzo Shinomiya of Japan in second place overall, and Katerina Linczenyovia of Slovakia and Alejandro Lemus of Mexico taking home bronze medals in third.
The last day of the competition saw an impressive seven national records being set, including a double Japanese title for the overall female leaders of #VB2015, Sayuri Kinoshita and Tomoka Fukuda, where both completed an 80m free immersion dive consecutively. Alejandra López of Mexico ended the comp with a personal best constant weight dive to 68 meters and a new Mexican title, and Adam Stern of Australia also had a very good showing with his own record-setting performance of 85 meters.
Now the celebrations can begin, as all of the competitors, production and safety teams get to raise a glass (or two) to their combined & wonderful experience on Long Island, and the myriad individual journeys and personal bests achieved — before the aquatic diaspora disperses until the next depth challenge surfaces.
(photos © Daan Verhoeven and Stig Severinsen)
