On July 15th, the third day of the Vertical Blue 2021 competition history was made and revisited. The unstoppable Alessia Zecchini of Italy set a new World Record in Constant-No-Fins in a dive time of three minutes and 2 seconds to an incredible self-propelled depth of 74m. Not only was this Zecchini’s second World Record at this year’s event, but it was also a dive she dedicated to Sayuri Kinoshita of Japan – who previously held the world record, left us too soon, and was a dear friend to Alessia and the entire freediving community. Sayuri and Alessia would volley back and forth in their achievement of records in the CNF discipline as well as in FIM. There was no rivalry, just admiration, and respect.
The third day of competition also saw six additional national records from Talya Davidoff of South Africa, Juani Valdivia of Peru, Isabelle Winner of the Bahamas with her third NR in as many days (and more importantly a personal best!), Kehan Pan of China, Sahika Ecumen of Turkey and Birgul Erken of Turkey also garnering her first NR of the comp.
The day ended with a beautiful in-memoriam dive where all of the crew and athletes descended to 15m with flowers to honor their friend.
You can read the full results and coverage on DeeperBlue.com here or watch the highlights video below or on YouTube.
