Kiwi Freedivers competing at this weekends Wellington Winter Champs hosted by Lazy Seals freediving club at Porirua Aquatic Centre, astonished the crowd with sensational performances, including two that exceed the current world records.
Guy Brew, current national record holder for Static Apnea, extended that record, his 3rd in a row to 9 min 4 seconds from 8:47s, Suzy Osler a former NZ record holder who returned to the sport in May of this year after a 4 year break, set a new ‘Dynamic With Fins’ National Record of 188m. Osler, who is sponsored by BlueSeventy, celebrated her new record saying ” I’m back!”.
Dave Mullins, current joint world record holder in ‘Dynamic No fins’ at 213m, made a clean exit from a 232m dive, setting a new National record, and Kathryn McPhee, also the current womens world record holder in ‘Dynamic No Fins’ at 151m, exited her dive at 152m. While both of these dives exceed the current world records, they only qualify for National record status, as the judges present at the competition are not able to ratify World records.
Day 2 of the Competition saw all NZ men competing, swim in excess of 150m, and also saw the newly set Womens Dynamic with fin national record from the previous day, swap hands again, with Kathryn McPhee reclaiming the title.
The competition also saw new international records set. British woman Ruth Griffin set a new ‘Dynamic with fins’ record of 164m, and narrowly missed setting a new Dynamic No fins record due to a penalty point deduction. South African Alisdair Eddie set a new ‘Dynamic No Fins’ record at 99m.
“The event was a tremendous success, both in the main competition and the recreational grade event as well ” a spokesperson for AIDA New Zealand, the governing body of Freediving in NZ said. “there has been recent publicity surrounding one of the competitors, Darrell Cottle who despite recently learning he has terminal melanoma in his lungs, had decided to ( with the appropriate medical clearance) enter the event in the recreational grade anyway, and performed very well, considering his condition and the fact it was his first competition. Darrell was a huge inspiration to all of the divers present, with his ‘making the most out of life’ attitude.
New Zealand freedivers, Kathryn McPhee, Suzy Osler, Guy Brew, Kerian Hibbs, Chris Marshall and William Trubridge are heading to Denmark next month for the indoor freediving World Champs, where they will compete for world titles in 3 events. McPhee and Brew featured at the top of the pool discipline rankings last year, and alongside their fellow team mates are expected to be the competitors to beat at the week long event.
