Press release received from Sara Campbell:
Sara Campbell, 35, the British freediver, who stormed into the history books just ten days ago with three World Records in just three days in a sport she has been practicing for just nine months, has again triumphed for her country.
At the Individual Freediving World Championships held this week in Sharm el Sheikh on the Red Sea, today Sara secured a Gold Medal for Great Britain with a clean -88 metre dive in the Constant Weight discipline (descending and ascending on one breath using only a monofin for propulsion), the first time a British freediver has achieved this.
Sara’s main rival, Russian Nathalia Molchanova, who has held World Records in all six competitive disciplines in the past two years, was aiming to reclaim her World Record title at the competition and again take home the Gold Medal. However, her announcement of -95 metres, an increase of nine metres on her former World Record in the same discipline, which was considered too ambitious by many of the athletes and experts at the competition, proved indeed to be too much for the woman the sport has for a long time considered unbeatable.
Sara commented: "I decided not to try to extend my own World Record of -90 metres at the Worlds. Competition – and having your records broken by other athletes – generates interest and tension in the sport and makes it more interesting both for the athletes and spectators. Nathalia always makes massive announcements at competition, but this time it didn’t pay off for her. I was anticipating this and made my announcement to secure Silver at the very least, and then wait to see if Nathalia would falter and hand me the Gold."
Silver goes to Swede Annelie Pompe and Dane Maria Livbjerg Eriksen took Bronze. In the men’s competition multiple World Record holder Herbert Nitsch of Austria took Gold and set a new World Record of -112 metres.
Sara added: "It was an amazingly easy dive. After ten days rest, my body was ready to dive and I actually completed the depth of -88 metres in record time – over 30 seconds faster than I had expected. The whole experience makes me realise that I have much, much more to give. I’m over the moon about bringing home Gold for Britain. On top of three World Records in three days – a feat which has never been achieved by anyone in this sport, let alone a relative beginner, such as myself – to take top spot at the Worlds is more than I ever dreamed of."
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