Long Island, Bahamas — Sunday heralds the third and final day of the first act of William Trubridge’s annual freediving competition. While the exclusive invitational event is largely known for hosting the giants of freediving, Vertical Blue is also an emerging portal for incubating rising stars in the sport. Maca Benitez is one of the latter – a newcomer from Chile. The 30 year old freediver’s inaugural visit to Dean’s Blue Hole yielded her a national record on the very first day of the competition, which Maca has now surpassed by re-setting her own national record with a successful constant weight dive to 45 meters as of today. Maca’s 45m CWT performance took 1 minute and :33 seconds to complete. Enamored with the the ideal conditions the blue hole has to offer, Benitez could not be happier exclaiming in both English and her native tongue “Great Diving! This place is awesome! Vamos por mas.”
Sunday also saw clean performances and new national records for two other international freedivers:
Igor Liberti landed a free immersion national record for Switzerland with a dive to 76 meters in 2:42, and Spanish pool champ Alfredo Roen successfully nabbed his first depth national record for Spain with a constant weight dive he made look easy to 85 meters in 2:58.
Stay tuned to Vertical Blue and the event’s facebook page for even more results.
Photo courtesy of Simon Bennett.
