New Zealand Freediver Ant Williams this past week set a Guinness World Record for his 75-meter (246-foot) Constant Weight (CWT) dive under the ice in the waters above the Arctic Circle. This pushed the record from 70-meter (230-foot) that he achieved two days previously.
Williams writes on his Facebook page following the second, 75-meter dive:
“It felt fantastic today. The weather was perfect and I guess the pressure of reaching a record was over, so I just got to enjoy the dive. Overnight I made some important tweaks to make the dive flow better for me. Absolutely pumped to have pushed the world record 10m deeper this week.”
Two days earlier, Williams had set the World Record at 70 meters with a similar dive under the ice. Following that feat, he wrote:
“Feels fantastic to have finally achieved this radical goal. It didn’t fall easy though. It was a super challenging dive. The brutal cold and the darkness were far beyond anything I have experienced in the sport. It was a relief to be back at the surface.
“I felt relaxed on the way down, but the swim up was tough going. I think I was over-weighted and when my dive response kicked in at depth my legs felt like lead. It took me nearly 30 seconds longer than normal to swim up. This is common with no warm-up diving when you don’t get a dive response before your deepest dive.”
Throughout his time in the Arctic, Williams wore a black armband to honor the victims of the recent gun violence in Christchurch, New Zealand.
You can watch a portion of the dive below or on Facebook.
