A new women’s world record for freediving in the Constant Weight with bi-fins discipline was set — twice — this past weekend at the Asian Freediving Cup Competition in Panglao, Philippines.
On June 9th, two women dove past the world record: Jessea Lu from China successfully dove to 83 meters (272 feet), and Slovenian Alenka Artnik dove to 90 meters (295 feet).
(UPDATE: Artnik broke the record again on June 11 with a 92-meter (305-foot) dive.)
Both Lu’s and Artnik’s dives are valid under AIDA rules until they clear their respective doping tests. If both pass verification, then Alenka holds the world record (with the deeper dive); if Alenka fails and Jessea passes then Jessea would get the record.
Jessea Lu wrote on her Facebook page:
“Today I attempted a World Record again and succeeded with a dive to 83 meters using Bi-fins. In truth, I had been feeling more nervous with deep diving since my last WR attempt in 2018 ended with an underwater blackout and serious lung barotrauma. Yet, I refused to stay broken. Over the last year, I had been carefully re-building myself back both physically and mentally. Still, it was definitely not an easy decision to announce this WR attempt on the first day of a high level competition — Asia Freediving Cup. Now that I made the dive, I am feeling a complex emotion consisting of being happy+surprised+relieved+thrilled+content at the same time.”
Alenka Artnik wrote on her Facebook page:
“What to say other than I’m super happy, relieved and grateful. Well, maybe just few more words as the season has just started. . . . Congratulations to all white cards, national records and Jessea Lu. On the next two more competitive days I wish you all strong, beautiful dives.”
The three-day Asian Freediving Cup was organized by Freedive Panglao. Seventy-three male and female athletes are competing from June 9th to 11th in three disciplines: Constant Weight with Fins (CWT) on Day 1, Free Immersion (FIM) on Day 2 and Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) on Day 3.
Check out DeeperBlue.com’s recent profiles of Jessea Lu here and Alenka Artnik here.
For more information about the Asia Freediving Cup, click here.