Yesterday completed the first act of Suunto Vertical Blue 2013. Day Three of the highly anticipated freediving competition produced another five new national records, out of 17 white card performances. The deepest of these was Davide Carrera from Italy. Davide completed a beautiful 101 meter dive under constant ballast in two minutes and :56 seconds. One only has to view the video below to see how “bellisimo” Davide’s form is.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=buJm8CmtkwQ]
“I feel very fortunate to be here and blessed to have made this dive,” shared Carrera. “I believe my dear friend Philip, (who passed some years back now when he gave his life to save another diver off the coast of Venice) is watching over me. I feel his presence in both magical and tangible ways – so much that even the idea of coincidence can not adequately explain them. From finding a sponsor at the last minute, to overcoming my fatigue to successfully making a new National Record dive for Italy, I know my friend is with me.” Would Davide have changed anything about his dive? “Well, I really wish I had smiled during my surface protocol,” Carrera reflected, “I believe it’s important to set a good example and that we as athletes shouldn’t simply look as if we are suffering but rather, that we are enjoying our favorite sport!“
Diving right after Davide was Vertical Blue veteran and owner of Freedive Gilli, Mike Board of the United Kingdom. Mike’s free immersion dive to 91 meters not only set a new UK record, but likely also helped him rebound from the mental pressures of a black-out he experienced on the first day of the comp. “The dive felt great,” chimed Board, “I have not done much free immersion recently and I actually enjoyed it! I’m just so happy to be back diving deep again after rupturing my eardrum so badly just 9 weeks ago in Kalamata. Everyone was telling me I would have to miss VB as well as the Worlds as it would not heal in time. It did take 7 weeks to fully heal so I wasn’t able to get much training in before arriving in the Bahamas one week before VB. I think I owe a lot to the Greek doctor who did such a good job patching my ear up in Kalamata!
Following Mike Board was Finland’s Antero Joki who quickly & easily executed a free immersion dive to 82 meters in two minutes and :40 seconds. Antero improved upon his own previous record by two meters, which was set at last year’s Vertical Blue.
Samo Jeranko of Slovenia took his first title with an impressive constant no-fins dive to 75 meters. “I’m really happy about my 75m n0-fins dive and I am looking forward to putting on my monofin to see how deep it goes!” exclaimed Samo, “Thanks to everyone for the support.”
The fifth national record of the day went to Alejandro Lemus of Mexico. Lemus has a very specific schedule for his performances this year and he is happy that things are going according to plan so far with a successful free immersion dive to 74 meters. “My first goal for the comp was setting a new national record for Mexico in the discipline of Free Immersion. I felt very comfortable equalizing and I will try to go even deeper in this discipline.”
See a snapshot of all the athletes’ results here below and stay tuned as today is a day off for the 36 competitors — time to rest up, recover and prepare for Act 2 of Suunto Vertical Blue 2013.
photos © of Daan Verhoeven, video by Igor Liberti.
