Today Nicholas Mevoli of Brooklyn made American history at the Caribbean Cup in Roatán. On this fourth day of the competition Mevoli successfully completed a dive down to 100 meters under constant ballast, on a single breath, and returned to the surface to be greeted by a white card from the AIDA judges and his third national record.
“God is great!” exclaimed Nick, “I thought a lot today about my Grandfather and how he must have been in the stands watching me. There were a lot of positive vibes coming from the spectators on the catamaran. I tried a new equalization technique today and I guess it worked. Now, back to the pool to train for Serbia.” Nick’s 100m CWT dive took two minutes and :45 seconds to complete.
Making some astonishing leaps and bounds over the past year and a half as a relative newcomer to the sport, Nick has also been stymied in what some would call a ferociously fervent pursuit of freediving goals. Last year at Déjà Blue III (Mevoli’s inaugural appearance at an international competition,) after a strong start in Constant Weight, Nick suffered a serious black-out at depth during a Free Immersion attempt. Then as a member of Team USA at the world championships in Nice a combination of bad sinuses and hubris thwarted the passionate freediver’s true potential; later in 2012 as an entrant in Suunto Vertical Blue Nick fell prey to a ruptured eardrum, and medical staff rightly would not allow him to continue in the elite invitational hosted by William Trubridge — tortuously he was relegated to the sidelines. While encountering these tiresome troubles Mevoli kept his focus, perhaps simultaneously willing his mental strength and patience to grow. Nick’s perseverance has now paid off. Beginning with a clean performance on Saturday (day three of the comp), Mevoli first matched the current US record in CWT (held by Rob King) with a successful CWT dive to 96 meters. Subsequently, Monday’s record-setting dive to 100 meters is exactly what Nick has been pursuing all along, his own vision of success. To be the first male to break the 3-digit barrier and reach a depth never before seen by another self-propelled American is simply icing on the cake for Mevoli.
Training to be an instructor with PFI, Mevoli actually sailed to the competition aboard the Nila Girl with Team USA co-captain and freediving world record holder Ashley Futral Chapman & her husband Ren, (the latter two serving as safety divers for the event).
“Nick told us that he’s been working out in the pool and you could definitely tell these past few weeks. His monofin kick is one of the best ones I’ve seen.” Ren Chapman complimented.
DeeperBlue sends the heartiest of congratulations to Nick on an outstanding series of achievements.
