Freediving - Johanna Nordblad - Serbia 2013

ENGLISH FREEDIVER

JOHANNA NORDBLAD

B E LG R AD E SE RBI A F R E E D I V I N G

DAY ONE

2

FREEDIVING WORLD TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS The custom has been to organize the world championships in freediving as a team event one year and then as an individual event the next, in other words, alternating them in consecutive years. In the team championships, the disciplines included are constant weight with fins, dynamic apnea with fins and static apnea or breath hold. Each team is made up of three members.

The results of each team member in all of the three disciplines are added together to form the final team score. The team with the greatest overall score is then crowned the world champion team.

In the individual world championships, there are actually two different competitions. There is the depth diving competition, which includes the disciplines of constant weight with fins, constant weight without fins and free immersion. Then there’s the pool event championships, which is what the competition in Serbia was, which is made up of three disciplines of dynamic apnea without fins, dynamic apnea with fins and static apnea.

The following provides a more detailed description of the various disciplines.

Dynamic apnea without fins (DNF) The purpose of this discipline is to swim as far as possible underwater in the pool, usually a 25 metre long one, within the boundaries of one swimming lane and making turns at both ends. Some additional weights are used by most divers around their waists and/or necks to counter the buoyant effects of not only a wetsuit if used, but also the air held in the lungs. The aim is to achieve a state of neutral buoyancy that allows the freedivers to concentrate all their energy on just moving in a

forward direction. In addition to the use of wetsuits and additional weights, other equipment such as swimming caps, goggles, diving masks and nose clips are used.

Dynamic apnea with fins (DYN) Dynamic apnea with fins is exactly the same as done without fins, except now freedivers use either bifins or monofins to aid propulsion, with the latter being the most popular choice in recent years. Before their use in freediving, monofins were used in pools by competitive monofin swimmers. Essentially, they act like the tailfin of a dolphin or whale where divers uses their whole bodies and legs in a wave like motion to create propulsion. This is in contrast to the individual leg kicking motion performed when using bifins. Unlike for the dynamic apnea without fins, a 50 metre pool is used in this discipline.

Static Apnea (STA) The purpose of static apnea is to hold one’s breath for as long as possible, but obviously without the loss of consciousness.

Competitors perform a very careful preparation involving a so-called breathe up to clear the body of excess carbon dioxide and to provide the body with as much oxygen as possible. In the effort itself, a competitor will lie face down in the water, completely motionless for as long as they can. Although this discipline requires really no more equipment than a swimsuit, additional equipment such as caps, goggles, diving masks, wetsuits, nose clips are often used. The best results in this discipline are achieved by those who are able to keep their bodies and minds as relaxed as possible, thereby using as little air as possible.

Constant weight with fins (CWT) This is the classic discipline of freediving. It involves diving as deep as possible on one breath of air. In addition to use of fins being permitted (most commonly the monofin), competitors also use additional weights, wetsuits and diving masks. Use of a wetsuit is virtually essential as the temperature of water at greater depths can be much colder than it is nearer to the surface. The aim of the additional weights is to achieve a state of neutral buoyancy, generally at a depth of 20 metres, and they must be retained for the duration of the dive. In other words, they cannot be discarded at depth to provide greater buoyancy.

A descent line acts as a reference for the diver. It leads to the bottom plate, which is located at the depth the diver has nominated in advance. From the bottom plate, the freedivers are required to collect a depth tag as proof that they have achieved the depth. Further, divers are not permitted to pull on the descent line for assistance, regardless of whether they are descending or ascending.

Constant weight without fins (CNF) This is exactly the same as the CWT discipline except that no fins are used to aid propulsion. For this reason, this is probably the most challenging, as well as the most natural, form of all the depth diving disciplines.

Free immersion (FIM) In this version of the depth diving disciplines, competitors are permitted to use the descent line to aid their movement, Generally, this involves

using the line to climb up when ascending by pulling on the rope to more easily overcome the effects of negative buoyancy.

In June 2013, the Freediving World Championships in the pool disciplines were held in Belgrade, Serbia. The competition location was the fantastic Milan Gale Muskatirovic Sports Centre with approximately 150 freedivers from all around the world participating. This included an 11 member Finnish National men and women’s team. The team was in good shape and ready to achieve some great results, at least if the results of the final team training session were any indication!

I took part in all of the three disciplines. The competition structure involved a series of qualifying heats for each of the disciplines, where the top 16 qualified for the finals. More specifically, the top 8 qualified for the A-final to fight it out for the world championship title and the other positions down to 8. The other qualifiers would then fight it out for positions 9-16 in the B-final. If everything would go as planned, I’d be performing three maximal efforts, firstly in the qualifying heats, and then once again in the finals. Performing just one maximal effort has been a very challenging thing for me in the past, so to have up to six to look forward too within a week was a really tough proposition! I had no choice but to accept that I would have to give it my all so I definitely had to make sure I was really focused. However, at the same time, I also had to make sure I was as relaxed as possible, if I was to be able to do my best. I wonder how things would go at these championships. I’m quite nervous!

It’s really hot here.

Belgrade looked rather dull and grey, at least based on our first impressions.

Approximately two million people live in Belgrade.

HEADING TOWARDS THE COMPETITION CENTRE When we arrive in Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia, the first thing to do was to get ourselves packed into a taxi with all our gear. That might not sound like a big deal, but it was an incredible 37 degrees outside! The taxi driver takes us through the city towards the competition venue at a breakneck speed.

He was driving so fast that it almost felt like we were on a carnival ride! As the taxi speeds down the streets, we get a glimpse of the ruins of the houses that were bombed during the war in 1999. There are houses that are still lived in today, but which have not even been repaired. It’s hard to imagine that it has only been 14 years since that really sad time.

The former Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, initiated the 1998 military campaign against the Kosovo Liberation Army. The campaign involved severe violence and cruelty against the civilian population, which left about 13000 victims. In March 1999, NATO arrived and began to bomb Serbia. After 79 days of resistance, Slobodan Milosevic finally surrendered. The bombings resulted in an estimated 500-1500 civilian victims, but the effects of Yugoslavia’s military were comparatively minor.

After the occupation, tens of thousands of people belonging to the Serbian minority in Kosovo were driven out of the area.

According to the way our taxi driver was telling the story, you couldn’t help but feel just how deep the wounds went, ones that do not seemed to have healed yet either.

It was incredibly hot in the taxi as we continued to make our way towards the competition venue. Our accommodation was to be in a student dormitory, and we were really starting to wonder

what it was going to be like. We certainly weren’t imagining that it would have air-conditioning! How would be possible to perform well if even getting to sleep was going to be a big challenge? Certainly the grey concrete architectural structures visible near the city’s fringes weren’t giving us much confidence about what the standard of our accommodation would be like.

The taxi driver was having problems finding the right location and I started to feel rather uncomfortable and unsure.

However, we eventually found the place, which was a rather run-down structure in an almost eerily quiet neighbourhood.

Fortunately, there was some colour with the presence of the welcoming organizing team and competitors. It was nice to see some familiar faces, which instantly made us feel more at ease.

Then it was time to check-in and to have a very welcome and refreshing cold shower. Oh, and you may have already guessed - there was no air-conditioning in this ‘hotel’ of ours!

I kept interrupting the process of unpacking to take more cold showers. It really is hot here! Before going for the evening meal, I check to see that all my diving equipment has survived the trip from home, especially my monofin. Luckily, everything is ok.

Fantastic!

At the opening ceremony, everyone seemed to be happy and in great spirits. Perhaps it was because we’d all been well fed?

Maybe it was more to do with being able to share the experience with so many old friends, ones that we’d not seen for a long time, and now with some new ones too.

Surely the nice air-conditioning at the ceremony venue was also a contributing factor! The city’s representatives, the organizing committee, as well as the event sponsors, held their speeches and thanked each other for all the effort they’d put into organizing the event. The approximately 150 competitors, representing a total of 24 different countries, and who were all ready for a great week of competition, were warmly welcomed.

Great, let the games begin! It was great to see so many old friends again.

The first competition day wasn’t for another 2 days, so we had some valuable time to get familiarized with our new surroundings, including not just the swimming complex, but also the local neighbourhood. As for the pool, even though most people would think that they’re all the same, for the competitive freediver, it is still important to consider things such as the depth profile of the pool and the water temperature, as they will be factors in selection of the right equipment, for example, the use of additional weights and possibly a wetsuit. In any case, I just hoped that the pool was clean!

It’s really hot here.

The more modern urban style and the rich old history of the city seemed to meld together comfortably in the streetscapes.

The bombings 14 years ago have left their mark on many of the city’s monuments.

The ruins of many bombed buildings can be seen in the centre of the city.

Our expectations of the quality of our accommodation were not very high.

The yard looked rather grey and dull for the most part.

We were staying in a student dormitory. Luckily, our dormitory was clean and also blue in colour!

We noticed that there were railroad tracks in the school yard located next to the dormitory. Wonder what the student there study?

An incredible top level national team of eleven freedivers from Finland came to compete. Their expectations were deservedly high as, over the years, Finnish freedivers have won many medals at the world championships.

From left to right.

Mikko Niemeläinen, Cetus, Espoo Jaakko Keskitalo, Sunken Logs, Paimio Johanna Nordblad, Cetus, Espoo Matti Tuulensuu, Kotka Divers Laura Paukkunen, Saimaan Norpat Urheilusukellusseura Janne Hietala, Joensuun Urheilusukeltajat Mikko Anttonen, Kuopion Urheilusukeltajat Veera López-Lehto, Vesikot, Kouvola Mikko Pöntinen, Vesikot, Kouvola Kaj Toivola, Cetus, Espoo Vesa Toropainen, Sunken Logs, Paimio

You can read more about the competition related thoughts and experiences of the national team members at vapaasukellusmmkisat.blogspot.com

MY PHOTOGRAPHY TRIP BEGINS! We arrived in Serbia. I’ve never been to Serbia before and I doubt that I would have ever come here if I wasn’t coming with Johanna to attend the world championships. However, it’s wonderful and it’s also 37 degrees outside! My jeans seem to have glued themselves onto my legs and I’m sure my bags feel at least twice as heavy as usual. Apart from my regular travel suitcase, I also have all my camera equipment, which include the camera backpack, two Canon Mkll cameras, a 24-70L and a 35mm f2 lens from our sponsors Rajala, my favourite work lens, a Canon 50mm f1.4, my charging units, batteries and memory cards. I left my flash units at home as I didn’t think I’d really need them. In any case, I prefer to work without them and just use natural light whenever I can. I also had my Macbook Pro tucked away in the side pocket of the backpack. In another much smaller bag, I had the Ikelite underwater camera box. In fact, the bag is so small that I was almost afraid that I’d forgotten it somewhere. At the various airports on the way, I only had to open my bag once during security checks. I was sure that I’d be checked more often and closely given how much technical looking electronic stuff I was carrying!

The first day got started pretty quickly. To our room, to dinner, and then to the opening ceremony. Luckily, there was still time after all that to take some photos of Johanna in the dormitory building yard. But what about the internet? How can I feel so lost and empty without it?! Fortunately, in the morning we were able to get internet access at a nearby coffee shop, but not having it at the dormitory was going to be a fairly annoying inconvenience for working on our project during the week. My

role was to photograph what I could during the day, and then spend the evenings editing, and posting images, as well as writing blog texts. Those evenings would turn into late nights on most days! Everything would no doubt get going just fine, but with the internet problem, it was unlikely that we would be able to publish as much material as we’d planned during the competition period. Maybe, with any luck, this issue would be sorted out within the next few days, but until then, the cafe’s wifi would have to be our connection to the rest of the world. At least we were able to support their business with all the coffee, orange juice and mineral water we ended up buying!

Before I fell asleep, I tried to get my mind focused on what was to come. What was I photographing and for whom? Johanna, the main character of the documentary? The Finnish team members who I’d be following for the entire competition? The event organizers will also want some photos, because I was now also a member of their media team. I would also be photographing many of the other competitors, and the environment in general, to try and capture the atmosphere of the entire event as accurately as possible. I’m sure it will all be ok.

Elina

Competitors from 24 nationalities were taking part in the competition.

An 11 member Finnish National Team came to compete at the championships.

Approximately 150 competitors were competing.

Here we all are again, at another opening ceremony of a World Freediving Championships. The first time I took part in a world championships was in the year 2000 when they were held in Nice, France or, more exactly, at Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat. At the time, 26 nationalities were represented, so that aspect hasn’t changed much. The Finnish team members at that event were, in addition to myself, Laura Tuominen, Jyri Vehmaskoski and Olli Loukola, as well as Karol Kovanen as our team support member. Both Laura and myself had dives to 31 metres, which, at the time, felt great. The sea was beautiful and blue, as well as light and friendly.

At the start of 2000, the custom was to only organize a team competition for mainly safety reasons. When the results of each team member were to be counted, no one could afford to try too hard and maybe get disqualified due to, for example, a loss of consciousness. The end result was that very few such incidents occurred, which made the entire experience a much nicer one for all concerned. Despite this, I managed to lose consciousness for the first and only time in my life (at least so far!) after completing a four and a half minute static apnea effort. I still remember how I felt the moment just beforehand, even though it’s been 13 years since then!

In 2000, the only event disciplines at the team championships were constant weight with fins and static apnea. The next year, dynamic apnea with fins in a swimming pool was added as a third discipline to the team championships. In 2005, the first ever individual world championships were organized. Since then, the custom has been to organize the world championships in freediving as a team event one year and then as an individual event the next, in other words,

alternating them in consecutive years.

Even though there have been changes in the competition rules and regulations of freediving since those earlier years to the present moment, the main focus on freediving still remains the same. Freedivers from around the world join together, have fun and dive together. That aspect has never changed and it seems that, in that respect, we all always win.

Everyone was in great spirits at the opening ceremony.

Official photographs were taken of all the teams.

It was nice to meet some old friends once again.

It’s that time once again, for freedivers from all around the world to join together.

Let the games begin!

DAY TWO

A PERFECT POOL Depending on the freediving discipline in question, competitors are required to declare either the length, depth or the time of their dive attempt in advance. For depth diving, competitors are not allowed to go beyond the declared depth, even if they could, and penalty points are given if the declared depth is not reached. In the pool disciplines, competitors are allowed to continue beyond the declared distance to achieve a greater result. However, penalty points are still given if the declared distance is not reached. In the pool, the surface is obviously not far away at any time and so there is much less risk involved than in diving for depth.

The order of the dive attempts is then based on the declared distances with the shortest distance attempts going first and the longest going last. In cases where two or more competitors have achieved the same final distance result, the winner will then be the one whose declared distance was closer to the final achieved result.

For tomorrow’s qualifying heats in the dynamic apnea, I declared a distance of 76 metres. I don’t know why, but I always declare this same distance regardless of my fitness. Perhaps it’s just a superstition I have, maybe like a lucky number or something? However, for an equally unknown reason, I decided that I would break with this superstition if I made the final. In that event, I would declare a distance that was as close as possible to what I think I would be able to achieve in actuality. At the 2007 world championships in Maribor, , my favourite discipline of dynamic apnea didn’t turn out well because of this superstition with my declaration number.

While my actual result was equal third, my final position ended up being fourth due to the other diver’s declared number being closer to the final result. Due to that, I missed out on a bronze medal. Two years later at the 2009 championships in Århusissa, I obviously hadn’t learned from that experience and once again declared a distance of 76 metres with exactly the same thing happening, that is, another fourth place and no medal. That really, really sucked!

At the 2011 world championships in Italy, it was fortunately a case of not being three times unlucky. However, the competition was more challenging for other reasons, as one year earlier I have broken my leg badly in a downhill mountain biking accident. I’d suffered a really bad spiral fracture of my tibia and my fibula was shattered into multiple fragments. If that wasn’t enough, there was a fracture in my ankle joint and, for a time, there was a likelihood that my leg was literally going to die from a lack of circulation. Fortunately, since I still have my leg today, that obviously didn’t happen, so I feel very, very lucky indeed.

However, one result of this accident was that I spent almost a year slowly getting around with elbow crutches, before I was given permission to walk independently. I was literally just learning to walk again only a very short time before the world championships. In fact, I only put on my monofin for the first time since the accident in the actual competition pool! My leg was still very painful and I had to firmly strap it up every time I used the fin for some much needed support. However, considering that I almost lost my leg, I was just happy that I had a leg to feel pain in!

To be brutally honest, the situation at breakfast time at the food hall was scary. Serbian school food served up by some serious looking women in aprons and caps brought pictures of a prison to my mind. There was a long metal counter in the hall, from behind which the facemask wearing women served the food at breakneck speed. Everything just seemed to feel dull and grey.

Before competitive dives, it’s very important to eat properly.

Even with good food, diving on a full belly is much harder than on an empty one. However, the worst thing to be suffering from is dehydration, as it can more easily lead to a loss of consciousness while packing the lungs full of air just before the start of dives.

Packing the lungs, which to an outsider might seem a rather odd and funny activity, involves repeatedly sucking additional air into the lungs after an already large inhale. The aim is to expand the lungs as much as possible by making small additional inhales through pursed lips while trying not to allow any air to escape.

During packing, sometimes it’s even possible to swallow some air too! The idea is that with more air in the lungs, more oxygen will then also be available for the effort, be it dynamic apnea, depth diving or then static apnea. Thus, greater distances, depths and times can be achieved than if only a normal deep breath was taken. It needs to be noted that packing is potentially a very dangerous act, which can result in damage to the lungs and air passages. Thus, it should definitely not be attempted by an inexperienced person or without expert guidance.

I slowly started to get used to the heat. In fact, it now just feels like a pleasant warmth. However, due to the initially really hot temperatures and the dehydration it caused, I’m still not feeling quite right. If I’m even a little dehydrated, I’m just not going to be able to fill my lungs as fully as I could otherwise. Also, should I still try to do a full pack just before my attempt while still even a little dehydrated, there is a risk that I could suffer a loss of consciousness, which is also called a blackout my freedivers.

That would of course put an instant end to my chances of making the A-final. Even if I could get going, I know that I would not feel great during the dive and that certainly wouldn’t improve my chances either.

Fortunately there is still time for the situation to improve before tomorrow. Some additional salt and drinking more water should do the trick.

In general, dynamic apnea without fins is organized in 25 metre pools and then, when using fins, in 50 metre pools. The reason for this is that without fins the competitor can use their legs to push off from the wall to gain some valuable initial propulsion at the start of each lap, but with fins this is not possible.

However, freedivers need to balance the effort they put into the push off with how much additional oxygen it uses up, something that isn’t a problem for regular competitive swimmers who can obviously breathe during their events. The best thing about a 25 metre pool is that it just feels shorter with the other end always appearing so near. As I already mentioned, that’s a funny thing, but it works for me.

There is no doubt that I am already nervous about my first competitive dive tomorrow. It also doesn’t help at all that I’ve now got an incredible craving for some coffee. Drinking coffee, unfortunately, certainly wouldn’t help my dehydration, but could maybe make it worse. So, no coffee for me today!

The sun is shining and the pool looks incredibly inviting.

LET THE SHOOTING BEGIN! The sun is shining brightly and it’s still about 37 degrees, so it’s going to be a long hot day. Unlike when we arrived with all our gear, today I’ve only got my small camera backpack and my Canon Mark II with a 24-70mm lens with me, a great and easy set up to start photographing anything and everything. My aim for today, given that it’s still just a training day, is to just capture as much of the atmosphere as possible as it develops, including all the people who are at the venue making it happen …

Johanna especially.

I was sure that it was all going to go just fine, right? Even though the internet was a bit slow, or at times not even working at all, we still always managed to get the material from each day completed and posted on time. I do have to admit, though, that my eyes were getting pretty tired during the last few days!

Elina

It’s just so hot! I’m dreaming of getting the chance to jump into the pool myself. Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Johanna to shout “Jump in!” So, in I went as quickly as I could, just taking the time to grab the Canon Powershot D20. Of course this is all just a part of my work as I of course had to test drive this nice new camera! It was very easy to use and get some great shots.

Johanna’s HEAD bikini’s certainly looked good.

During this first training day at the pool, we wanted to work out how we were going to approach the documenting of the upcoming competition days. Johanna would write her blog for the relaa.com website. I would be photographing during the day and editing images in the evening, including producing websized images for the social media posts. Then we’d head to the wifi cafe for some blog, Facebook and Twitter posting, as well as uploading the day’s pictures to our image gallery. This was the daily formula, which was going to be repeated over and over again for the entire competition week.

Johanna Nordblad received a grant from the Finnish Olympic Committee in the year 2006.

To start the first day, I almost lost my goggles. Luckily, Bernadette Schildorfer found them from the bottom of the pool.

If I’d lost my goggles, it would have been pretty hard to get another suitable pair to replace them.

I test out my equipment before deciding on what to use in the actual competition.

Everyone is so happy to finally get into the water, including Finland’s Laura Paukkunen.

Mikko: “In my last training sessions, I did lots of short dives to test the competition pool conditions and my equipment.�

All the freedivers were checking their equipment in preparation for the next day, the first day of competition.

Laura Paukkunen and Veera López-Lehto are the other two representatives of Finland’s women’s team.

Matti Tuulensuu is one of Team Finland’s World Championship first-timers.

Let the games begin!

DAY THREE

COMPETITION DAY ONE. DYNAMIC APNEA I fell asleep thinking about my first dive. When I woke up, all I was thinking about was how hot it was. Today is the first day of competition with the qualifying heats of the dynamic apnea without fins. I have no idea about the level of my fellow women competitors or how far I would have to go to make the A-final.

Well, I do know, at it’s going to be a lot!

The eight best in the qualifying heats earn a place in the A-final and, likewise, the next best eight into the B-final. Of course my aim was to make the A-final, as just making the B-final would almost feel like a form of punishment to me. Why? Well, because I’d still have to force myself to do a long and hard dive, even though I know I would not be happy with my final placing, regardless of the distance I achieved.

Performing long dives is really hard, both physically and mentally. A maximal effort is only ended when you feel it is impossible to go even one more metre and, if you did, you’d probably lose consciousness. In competition situations, I’m already quite nervous to begin with. I seem to always wonder whether I’m mentally ready to push myself to the limit that I know I’m physically capable of. In a competition, you only get one chance to find out. Afterwards, I almost always think that I stopped to early or that I could have gone maybe just one metre further.

The most difficult thing is to know how far you can go without going too far. You have to know as accurately as possible what it feels like when you know you have to come up and not 100 metres to early or just a few metres too late. If you don’t act

when you should, there is a good chance of being disqualified when you are no longer in control of your actions due to even a partial loss of consciousness. It’s certainly very easy to stop and come up too early, even just before the 50 metre turn when it already starts to feel bad. Today, though, I’m trying to go further than 125 metres. I know I can do it physically, but am I’m mentally ready? I’m really not sure how it’s going to go.

How does it feel when you know you have to come up? When you’re not feeling it then it’s very hard to remember and describe it. However, I know the feeling when it comes during a dive and I know I need to come up immediately. Maybe I feel it in my stomach. Or in my legs? My hands? Perhaps even in my throat?

I certainly feel it in my fingers!

I decided to not have any breakfast. My dive is quite early in the day and I’d much rather not take the risk of diving on a full stomach. I’ll just eat something afterwards. I’m still worried about my state of dehydration and so I continue to correct the situation with more salt and water. I’m nervous. I wonder how my dive is going to go?

We head over to the competition venue. Once there, I begin to follow the other competitors. I watch their breathing, their dives, and how they look when they come to the surface. I know that I can do it just as well as them. There’s nothing hard about all that, is there?

My turn arrives. With only 5 minutes to go, I lower myself gently into the pool. The official countdown has begun. Two minutes to go. I breathe quietly and try to relax as much as possible.

One minute and 30 seconds to go. I close my eyes and feel the sensations in my fingers. If I breath too much at the start, the partial pressure of the carbon dioxide in my body will decrease.

While this would make the dive feel easier, my body still won’t spare any oxygen and I could be at risk of losing consciousness without warning. When the pressure goes down you can feel it as a tingling in the fingers. Are my fingers tingling? Maybe just a little.

hand and arm sweep, but continuing it all the way down to the side of the bottom so that the arms end up being straight. I find performing a good kick to be quite difficult after performing the arm sweep. So, I often dive by first doing two or three kicks following each turn, where I push off from the wall before performing the first arm sweep. With this method, I’m able to kick as strongly as possible with relatively minimal effort and oxygen usage.

Only one minute now. I breathe out all the air in my lungs and make the decision to already trigger the diving reflex before the start of my dive. I decided to experience 10 involuntary diaphragmatic contractions before I continue to breath again. As I count the contractions in my mind, I realize that I’m already up to 12 of them. Oh dear. I think that I might still be a bit too nervous and focusing too much on trying not to be nervous. I breath in very strongly now, perhaps stronger than I’d thought to do. “Calm down, everything is fine.”, I think to myself. Are my fingers tingling. Maybe just a little. 30 seconds to go. Before I start my dive, my plan is to take two strong, deep breaths before packing. 20 seconds. I have to breathe a third time or I’ll be forced to leave too early. So, a third breath followed by 10 packing breaths and a moment to relax. My fingers are tingling. I hear the last few seconds of the countdown “4, 3, 2 …” Just another 8 packing breaths and away I go. Suddenly, I can’t remember how many I’ve taken and I’m now not sure if my lungs are full enough. However, I’m still within the 10 second time window to start my effort. Everything is fine now. I start my dive.

My head goes under the water and I push off from the wall.

Mmm … wasn’t I supposed to first kick twice before the first arm sweep? It’s hard to focus when you’re nervous. I kick. It wasn’t a very good one and I don’t achieve a nice glide. Arm sweep.

When I dive without fins, the best way for me to propel myself is by using a breaststroke kick, as well as the breaststroke

Push off. Glide. Arm sweep. Oh no. Another arm sweep.

Shouldn’t I have done a kick first? My dive is now not

I notice that I have too much air in my lungs, as the additional weights that I’m carrying aren’t keeping me in a stable, neutral position. Thus, my diving position is not the best possible given that I’m not completely horizontal. Also, I’m moving along too close to the surface, which just adds more potential problems. I understand that I need to be closer to the bottom. I start to head downwards a little more until I then find myself too close to the bottom!

While it is permitted to touch the bottom, the risk is that you could be judged to have use the bottom to push off from, which would result in disqualification. So, I start to dive upwards again, but just a little bit. I reach the end. So, I guess 25 metres is now behind me.

probably going so well. It’s certainly not going like I’d planned.

My speed is too slow. Relax Johanna, think. I start to feel the pressing sensation in my chest. Relax. Relax Johanna. I’m now at the other end. 50 metres done. Turn and push off from the wall. Arm sweep. I did it again! Better to just forget it now. Does it really matter anyway? I close my eyes and just dive. The pressing sensation in my chest continues to grow. 75 metres now completed. I try to just concentrate on my glide. Arm sweep and glide. I open my eyes and notice that once again I’m too close to the surface. I need to glide further before the next kick or arm sweep, as well as relax more. Perhaps I should already stop and come to the surface? I have to force myself to focus all my attention on making sure I stay relaxed. My chest feels like it’s being crushed. I’m really starting to feel bad now.

I still need to get to the other end and back. Right now it’s really feeling like a long way. 100 metres now. I can now feel the involuntary contractions of my diaphragm, but they’re not so bad yet. I can still cope with them. Actually, it doesn’t feel so bad anymore, considering what I’m doing and the point that I’m at.

I’ve already gone past 100 metres. If I can continue to focus on being relaxed, everything will be fine. I continue to move forward. Glide. Relax. Kick. My speed slows down. I’m now focusing my attention on just keep relaxed and not being worried about my speed. Should I kick just one more time? Yes. Kick. Glide. Can I manage just one more arm sweep. Yes. Glide.

One more time? Yes, I think so. And once again. I don’t feel any worse.

I reach the end. I’ve gone 125 metres. I could still turn around.

Another push off and arm sweep. Now I need to come up. Right now! I break the surface and start to breathe. I made it to 133 metres and a white card from the judges signifies that my effort was acceptable. It just might be enough to make the A-final, or then maybe not? I don’t know. However, I’m still very satisfied with my dive. I know that I didn’t come up too early, and I also know that I just couldn’t have gone any further.

The official results are posted in the afternoon on the results board. My dive ended up being the 6th longest. I stare at the results board and I’m so happy that I’ve made the A-final, which is just fantastic. I’m made it through the first challenge and feel great. Now, it’s time to eat and then maybe get back into the pool to prepare for tomorrow’s dynamic apnea with fins qualifying heat.

I wonder how things will go today? I’m nervous.

It’s important to read the starting list closely, even several times, as the time window before the start of the dive is just 10 seconds.

MIKKO PÖNTINEN, FINLAND I started freediving in 2006 after I saw magician David Blane’s documentary ‘Drowned Alive’.

My best competition results are: Dynamic apnea with fins 261m; Dynamic apnea without fins 181m, static apnea 7min34sec; constant weight with fins 85m; constant weight without fins 50m; and free immersion 59m. If I was to have any idols in freediving they would be Tom Sietas for the pool disciplines and Martin Stepanek for depth diving. I would also include Elon Musk and Nikola Tesla in this group.

Before the competition in Serbia, in addition to the regular technique and swimming training, both with and without fins, I also did a lot of long dynamic apnea efforts with both full and empty lungs, as well as carbon dioxide tolerance training. I also did quite a bit of maximal strength, as well as lactic acid production and tolerance, training in the gym. Competitions are always exciting and can cause some anxiety, but with a sufficiently relaxed attitude and approach, any unnecessary tension can be minimized. When you can go to competitions with a mindset of competing against yourself rather than others, I think it is possible to enjoy the experience more. I feel less anxious when I take this approach and the results are usually better as well.

Mikko Pöntinen received a grant from the Finnish Olympic Committee in the year 2010.

Mikko Pรถntinen getting things underway for the Finns.

Today we’re diving without fins.

Laura is diving right after Mikko in the same lane.

Mikko’s dive secures him a place in the B-final.

It’s a good idea for the freedivers to have assistants during competitions. Kaj Toivola was our team captain and assisted the other team members when required.

Laura’s dive gets the ok. Another white card for the Finnish team.

Mikko Niemel채 focusing just before his dive.

Everything seemed to work well at the competition, right from day one all the way to the end.

Japan’s contingent was the largest at the event.

Team Sweden.

Georgina Miller from the United Kingdom and Chris Marshall from New Zealand waiting for their turn.

Mikko Anttonen waiting to do his first ever dive at a world championships.

Matti Tuulensuu also at the world championships for the first time.

Ekaterina Romanova is a familiar face at freediving competitions. She’s been a judge at several world championships.

These were the third world championships for Veera.

Veera: “My distance in the qualifying heats of the dynamic apnea was 114 metres, which was 25 metres less than I’d hoped to achieve.”

My turn is coming. I slip into the pool.

It’s hard to know just how far it is possible to dive without diving too far.

133 metres. A white card for an acceptable dive.

I’m satisfied with my dive. I couldn’t have gone any further.

Jaakko Keskitalo is also a first time Finnish team member.

Jaakko achieved a personal best of 150 metres.

The atmosphere at the event venue was a happy yet nervous one all day.

The sun is shining and it seems like everyone is having fun.

It was Vesa Toropainen’s first time at the world championships. He achieves a distance of 131 metres.

Freedivers place weights around their necks to achieve a neutral and balanced diving position.

In each qualifying heat, six competitors dive at the same time.

Mikko Anttonen achieves a dynamic apnea result of 150 metres and receives a white card.

MIKKO ANTTONEN, FINLAND My participation in freediving began almost by accident as something I tried in association with my scuba diving hobby. Our diving club received a few enquiries about whether we organized any freediving activities. We didn’t, but we decided to do so after that! A little under four years later, freediving, as both a fun activity and competition sport, takes up most of my free time.

The pool disciplines are going really well, and I guess that’s the area of freediving I focus most of my training for. After competing in three Finnish Championships, I’ve achieved one bronze and one silver medal. My best single performance would have to be my 223 meter dynamic apnea with fins here at the World Championships in Serbia, even though I was disqualified due to an incorrect surface protocol. My best clean result is 212 metres in practice and 200 metres in competition. For dynamic apnea without fins, I’ve achieved a result of 150 metres in both competition and practice, and my best static apnea is 6 minutes and 49 seconds. The first competition event at the World Championships in Serbia was the dynamic apnea without fins.

The first competition dive was mentally the most difficult. Doubts about my own diving fitness and ability levels kept popping into my head. Excess tension and even some level of panic make’s you think whether there’s any sense in being here. However, as I get more experience, I’ve been better able to control my state and be relaxed as I slip into the water a few minutes before the start of my dive. During the first pool length, I can tell whether the dive is going to be easy or difficult.

I was happy that my dive started well, not only technically, but mentally as well. that’s being held the following day. At the 150 metre mark, everything was still going well with no problems at all.

However, it’s easy to make a plan and having a positive dive experience is a great motivator for my upcoming main discipline that’s being held the following day. A successful dive is always an incredibly good thing, providing more confidence, which helps to relieve unwanted tension and anxiety. It’s a good place

William Trubridge represents New Zealand and is one of the competition favourites.

A 170 metre dive and a place in the finals.

An amazing day with amazing weather and friends.

UNDER THE SURFACE As soon as I got Johanna’s message that we were going to Serbia to document the World Pool Freediving Championships, I knew that I would need a waterproof box for my camera.

Photographing Johanna underwater was something that we’d been planning for years, but I’d never taken my camera underwater before, probably because I’d always been worried about what could happen to it. Maybe it might get soaked!

So, we need to get a waterproof underwater box. EW Dive is the importer of Ikelite boxes, so I sent a message to Ville Laine at their store. The end result was that EW Dive was kind enough to provide us with an Ikelite box to use on our trip. All we had to do was to go to Lahti to pick it up. They also gave us some great hints and advice on how to use it. Remember to check the O-rings and make sure you tighten the fastening screws enough. Press the latches on both sides down at the same time.

Rinse it in the shower after use. I tried to remember all these things so that I wouldn’t be ending the day with a completely soaked and useless Canon 5D Mark II! I used the Ikelite box during both the practices and the competition events. Setting up the camera in the box was actually much easier that I had originally thought. Just put the camera in against the back wall of the box, close it, check the O-rings, both latches down at the same time, and then my now underwater (and more importantly waterproof!) camera was ready to go.

When we were heading to the first practice session, I packed

my camera in my bag and was wondering how things were going to go. At the pool, I took out my camera and placed it at the edge of the pool. I then slipped into the pool and took hold of it. Even though I’m not competing, I probably a fairly long static apnea the first time the unit went underwater! It stayed dry. I tested it again. Still dry. Yes, thank goodness! As I remember the advice I got from a Swedish diver, I look to see if there is any condensation or misting inside the box. If there is, then that’s a sign that there may still be a small leak somewhere, which could potentially let some water in. Fortunately, there wasn’t. My camera is dry and looking good. I’m ready to go underwater and start shooting Johanna. I head to the bottom of the pool and start taking some shots. Everything seems to be working just fine. I tried to think about the camera settings I’d be using as much as possible before getting into the water. I wanted to just focus more on photographing than playing with changing any major settings, although making a few small adjustments on the go was not a problem at all.

Being underwater with a camera is almost like not being in water at all. I’m not a freediver like my sister, but when I have my camera in my hand, I totally forget where I am. Being underwater feels natural and, as far as photography is concerned, I do it the same as I would in any other environment except that of course I have to go back to the surface occasionally to get some air!

Using the Ikelite box was also easy because I’m already so familiar with my own camera. Having the box around it really

didn’t change the way I used my camera very much. The Ikelite box is transparent so it’s also easy to notice if there are any leaks. Each camera button has its respective adjustment point on the box, so using the camera is really easy. Ikelite has over 40 years of experience with underwater camera housing technology and the price-quality ratio of their products is excellent. So, it’s not surprising that they are used by many of the world’s best professional photographers. During the world championships, I learned a lot from watching the other photographers in action. My favourite was Dan Verhoeven who seemed to spend most of his time underwater! daanverhoeven.com Rajala Pro Shop in Helsinki provided us with a Canon EF 35/2 IS USM lens. The Canon 5D Mark II is very well suited for use with the Ikelite box while using this lens. As it’s so small and compact, the whole unit was easy to use, even underwater with the Ikelite box. I didn’t need any flash or anything else extra as I was able to shoot in the summer sun shining directly into the outdoor pool. I certainly believed that this set up would work well.

The use of this lens ended up being a good choice. It is able to focus really fast. For our purposes, the 35mm aperture is sufficiently wide. However, while looking at the other photographers and the images they produced, I thought that it still might have been a good idea to have one even wider aperture lens, perhaps a 14mm one, so that I could get some

even more interesting shots. When shooting underwater with the Ikelite box, the pictures definitely came out in focus. On the surface, this 35mm lens was also one of my favourites. It has a good light factor, so that even underwater there was always sufficient light to get some great shots. It was also great for taking shots of what was happening on dry land immediately upon exiting the pool, so I didn’t necessarily need to dry the box and take my camera out of it to continue shooting out of the pool. The Canon EF 35/2 IS USM is a great, compact lens resulting in some very nice images. I’d certainly use it in my other work on dry land as a companion lens to my current main lens a Canon 24-70L f2.8. The lens softens the background very nicely when using a larger aperture, which is the look that I like to go for. Rajala Pro Shop also suggested we take along the waterproof Canon Powershot D20 as a very versatile and easy to use second camera for taking quick snaps in and out of the pool. I have to admit that I didn’t know anything about this camera beforehand and I don’t own any smaller digital cameras.

However, this camera sounded like it was worth trying out and it certainly ended up being a great choice. The Powershot D20 was a durable and trustworthy camera. Being waterproof to 10 metres, it was totally suitable for use in the pool and it allowed us to also get some great images from the competition. Thank you Rajala Pro Shop and Canon for providing us with one for our trip!

This camera was with us every day at both the competition venue and elsewhere too. In fact, all the members of the Finnish team had a chance to test it out.

One of the team actually had an earlier version of the camera, the D10. In comparison, the D20 was slightly thinner and many basic improvements had been made to it. The D20 automatically provided perfect lighting and really no additional adjustments to the settings were required. The quick start button for the video was also nice and practical. Also, if I wanted to dive even deeper with this camera, it could actually be taken down to 40 metres with a suitable waterproof underwater camera housing box. It was a great camera and I’d certainly like to have one with me anywhere I go, especially when water is involved!

Elina

The Canon Powershot D20 is a great for use above the surface...

‌ as well as below it.

The mermaids of the Finnish team. Laura and Veera.

The Ikelite underwater camera housing can be adjusted for use with different lenses.

We had the use of a Canon 35mm lens, which fitted easily into the Ikelite housing.

Despite the size, the camera and Ikelite box worked well together underwater.

Each button on the camera had its own dedicated adjustment point on the Ikelite box and was easy to use.

Without the Ikelite box, documenting the competition would have been impossible.

The Canon PowerShot D20 was used intensively by everyone in the Finnish team.

Even though I’d been in the water almost daily during the training season, I hadn’t done any long dives for quite a long time.

Previously, dynamic apnea with fins was my favourite discipline. After my accident in 2010, I haven’t really been able to train with a monofin anymore.

I know that I haven’t trained or prepared for these world championships as well as I would have liked or should have.

However, I have been training a lot in other disciplines that support freediving. I feel like I’m in good shape.

I don’t know just how far I’ll be able to go.

On the other hand, it might be a good thing, since I don’t have any expectations of reaching any particular distances.

Sometimes its easier to dive when you can just relax and just see how far you can get.

When you aim to achieve a certain distance, it is perhaps much easier to quit if things don’t go according to plan during the dive.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. I wonder how far I can go?

DAY FOUR

Today was the dynamic apnea with fins competition. Kaj Toivola received a white card for his performance of 165 metres.

JANNE HIETALA, FINLAND A started freediving in the beginning of summer in 2011. The previous summer I had travelled extensively in Asia, during which time I got involved with scuba diving. This was my first experience with the underwater world and, for one reason or another, I felt at home in this new environment. Right from the beginning, diving felt incredibly relaxing and comfortable. In the spring of 2011, we did a week long diving trip to Spain. The aim was to check out the underwater world along the coast of Spain. I visited the library to find some literature about diving and I saw a book about freediving on one of the shelves. I had never heard about freediving before that moment. After that first quick read, I felt that this activity was just crazy. I thought that I would certainly never try anything like freediving. After all, humans are designed to breathe! Despite my initial thoughts, the idea of freediving stayed in my mind. My local diving club did not recognize PADI diving certificates and so I would have had to do another basic diving course to do any diving with them. However, this club did organize some freediving related activities. I thought that since scuba diving was so much fun, I might as well try freediving after all. During my rather short time in diving, I have many times wondered whether I should dare to get involved with the national freediving team, as well as the Finnish and World Championships. However, I’ve always gone along and I’ve never regretted taking part. The experience has definitely been a unique one and I wouldn’t change it for anything. The thing that surprised me the most was the great team spirit. I believe that many of the team members performed better than they themselves expected because of this fantastic and supportive team spirit. It feels great to belong to the team.

Veera assisting Laura’s performance.

Laura: “The apnea cross country ski training that I did throughout last winter definitely paid dividends as I was able to add 26 metres to my PB in dynamic apnea with fins.�

Mikko Niemeläinen: “My main aim for these world these championships was a place in the finals for dynamic apnea with fins.”

William performing his stretching routine.

Nicholas Mevoli relaxing.

My ankle is very carefully taped. Seems to work fine even though it still hurts.

The sun just keeps on shining.

Team P枚ntinen - L贸pez-Lehto works well.

Bernadette Schildorfer from Austria relaxing before her dive.

Veera achieved a personal best of 165 metres in the dynamic apnea with fins event.

Veera: “I made it into the B-final. Can’t wait!”

The Japanese team included 12 women and 8 men.

VESA TORAPAINEN, FINLAND About 15-20 years ago, I did some freediving now and again on my own, but I kind of left it behind because I didn’t find any information about the sport or others who might be interested in training together. I found the sport once again about three and a half years ago and for the last two I’ve been involved in the competitive side of things. I started diving with the Paimio Sunken Logs club to get some more variety and to try out some new things with freediving.

I’ve now participated in three Finnish Freediving Championships and in one competition in Latvia, but this world championships event is my first really big international freediving competition. However, it was nice to notice that they don’t seem to be that different from those other competitions, though of course there more people from different nationalities in attendance. It was great to have several very experienced members in our team, which made it much easier for a first timer like me.

My own preparation for these world championships after the Finnish championships in March was fairly difficult due to other time commitments. In fact, I was really only able to train regularly for the two weeks prior to coming to Serbia. However, my training strategy of focusing on doing long DNF dives seemed to do the job despite the very short preparation time. Although I suffered from some extra nerves in the first discipline, which was the DNF, I still managed a personal best of 131 metres, although I wasn’t that satisfied with the result. The second event, the DYN, went much better as I was able to relax as I prepared from my effort. Again, another personal best with a result of 185 metres.

I’m sure I was capable of going to 200 metres, but I didn’t want to risk being disqualified so I came up in good time. Even though I didn’t quite achieve the distance goals I’d set for these championships, overall I was still very happy with how everything went. I’ve certainly now got a lot of motivation to achieve better results at future competitions!

WHAT TIME IS IT? I wake up. What’s the time? I start to tape up my ankle while I’m still half asleep. Today it’s time for some dynamic apnea with fins, so I really need to make sure my ankle is well supported. I like this city. Even though many of the buildings are in a bad state, the place still looks really cool. There are no bad smells anywhere. Even the public toilets seem to be quite nice and clean. I certainly don’t feel like I have to avoid touching anything in public places! I look outside through the window of the minibus as it makes its way to the competition venue. I see a rather old market square with some small stalls that’s bordered on all sides by old buildings. Tomorrow is the last day of the qualifying heats so I still need to concentrate on that. However, I’m definitely planning on checking out this city a lot more closely soon. For now, though, I suppose I have to concentrate on today’s.

The sun is shining as I try to put on my competition dive suit.

The leg sleeve gets caught on my taped ankle so now I have to fix that. How much time do I still have? Am I on schedule? I check my watch. My long sleeved swimsuit is so tight that I have to reserve about 30 minutes just to get it on. I get the suit on and check the time again. Then I go to look for a shady spot and start my stretching routine. 22 minutes to go before it’s my turn. I organize all the equipment that I’ll need next to me. Monofin, cap, nose clip, goggles, neck weight and soap. The countdown starts at exactly 11 o’clock at which time I’ll have just a 10 second time window to start my dive. 10 minutes before the final countdown, competitors are permitted to enter the area at the end of their assigned lane and then actually enter the water 6 minutes beforehand. Because the foot pocket of my monofin is

very tight, the longest I can keep the fin on for is about 8 minutes before it becomes too uncomfortable.

If my dive is to last for a maximum of three and a half minutes, I can only put my monofin on about 4 minutes before the start of the dive. However, I really want to already be in the pool with 5 minutes to go at the latest. How had I not thought of this earlier?

The time schedule planning really isn’t at all an impossible task.

So, I end up deciding to get into the pool with 4 minutes to go.

Perhaps it’s better to be in the water one minute later than to suffer with possible problems with the monofin during the dive.

I check my watch once again. 15 minutes to the start. I go through my performance with my assistant. 12 minutes. Now I need to go to my lane area. I collect all my equipment and feel a sudden panic as I realize that my monofin is still in the bag, although it takes probably no more that 15 seconds to take it out. Maybe I won’t be late after all. “Soap?”, my assistant asks.

Soap? Have I left it in the bag? Where is it? “Surely I’m going to be late now?”, I start to think.

No problems, though, as there’s still plenty of time. “We’ll be fine.”, my assistant reassures me. I’m sure that she’s right. All my equipment is right beside me. I breathe in deeply to try and calm myself. I wet my hair and put on my cap. I breath deeply once again. Once I’ve entered my lane area, I sit down to relax for a moment. With 5 minutes to go, I move to the edge of the pool. I wet my toes while my assistant wets my monofin. I carefully massage my toes with soap so that I can more easily slide my feet into the tight foot pocket of the monofin.

The tape is quite coarse and it wants to get stuck at the edge of the foot pocket, but I don’t have time to fix that now. I bend the edge of the pocket just a little and luckily manage to get my taped foot into it without any more problems. My ankle feels quite secure and supported, which is great. “Time?”, I ask my assistant. With four minutes to go, I slip into the water. I’m on schedule. Seven seconds into my final 10 second time window, I descend below the surface and start my dive.

I come to the surface. I take hold of the lane rope and breathe strongly, exactly three times. I feel fine. Over the next 15 seconds, I take off my goggles, my nose clip and then give the ok sign and say “I am ok.”, as the rules dictate. I look at the judges and smile. It was a great dive. I’m waiting for the card, which I hope will be a white one. One minute seems like such a long time in this situation. Finally, a white card is held up and I receive the final ok. Great,192 metres! The longest dive of my life and a new Finnish, as well as Nordic record too! I’m sure this will be good enough to make the A-final. Isn’t it funny how such an insignificant thing can make you feel so happy? I feel great.

No doubt I’ll be just as nervous about staying on my time schedule tomorrow as I was today, so I’ll have to keep an eye on the time once again. However, for the rest of today, I don’t want to look at my watch again, not even once.

I wet my toes as my assistant wets my monofin.

I carefully massage my toes with soap so that I can more easily slip my feet into the monofin’s foot pocket.

I slip into the pool. It’s hot here.

I’m on schedule and with just 3 seconds left in my 10 second time window, I descend below the surface and begin my dive.

Daan Verhoeven films my dive. Elina hyperventilates on the surface.

I come to the surface. I feel fine.

I look at the judges and smile. It was a great dive. I’m waiting for the judges’ card.

A white card. 192 metres!

The longest dive of my life!

A new Finnish and Nordic record.

I couldn’t have gone any further.

I qualified for the A-final.

William is diving next.

Sofia Tapani, representing Sweden, also makes it into the A-final.

Mikko Anttonen gets a red card, because his goggles broke and the nose clip came off at the same time with the goggles during the post dive surface protocol.

All the dives for today have been completed. Tomorrow the competition continues.

DAY FIVE

There was no sun on display during the static apnea competition day.

No one was complaining about it being too hot now.

The cooler conditions was creating problems for many of the competitors. Event favourite Veera gets a red card and her result is disqualified.

The atmosphere is still jovial.

Uros Kojic assisted the judges during the competition.

Hanako Hirose waiting for her turn.

In the static apnea event, eight divers compete at the same time.

The Finnish team was always ready with a smile.

The competition moved along on schedule despite the rain.

Daan Verhoeven assisting Georgina Miller.

Janne Hietala achieved a result of 4 minutes and 44 seconds.

STATIC BREATHHOLD In the discipline of static apnea, the purpose is to hold one’s breath for as long as possible head down in the water while floating on the surface. After doing competitive freediving for 13 years, I’m still not sure how I really feel about this event.

The performance of a maximal breath hold is very interesting from a physiological point of view. When I watch others performing static apnea, I can’t but think how silly it is. However, from the mental control aspect, I find it very fascinating and challenging, an opportunity to do an almost endless analysis of one’s own emotions and physiological sensations. As a skill, the ability to hold one’s breath - and how could I best put this - is not something you need very often in everyday life, except maybe in very smelly and dirty toilets! During static apnea, your emotions can alternate from one extreme to another in just moments.

Interestingly, when the lungs have once again been filled with air after a static apnea effort, the thoughts and emotions experienced during the effort change and it can be really hard to objectively return to them.

During a static breath hold, it is very easy to come up with the most unbelievable excuses to stop. It’s just so easy to fall into the trap of believing those weird thoughts and lift your head up too early and breath again. Also, each effort is different. You can never know in advance how it’s going to feel. The best that you can do is to try and remain aware of your emotions, thoughts and physiological sensations and to try and not really focus on any particular one and to also not expect to feel anything in particular. I can perform a four minute long breath hold pretty much in any conditions. Depending on the breathing strategy

I use to prepare for a static apnea effort, I can almost tune in how the performance will feel. As the body only monitors the partial pressure of carbon dioxide, I can hyperventilate excess carbon dioxide out of my system, after which a four minute breath hold doesn’t feel difficult at all. However, the downside of this is that the body does not save any additional oxygen even when more carbon dioxide has been flushed out. At this time at least, it’s hard for me to think of doing much beyond a 5 minute performances in static apnea. If I breathe easily and quietly, I can retain a higher carbon dioxide partial pressure and even raise it on purpose. The diving reflex and the bad sensations can already then begin after even just one minute. Even though this can feel very uncomfortable quite early on, this allows for a much longer static breath hold time, as long as I can manage to remain relaxed as possible, both physically and mentally.

Today it rained and the temperature was only 19 degrees. Many thought that it was too cold to dive, even with wetsuits, but I already decided in the morning that I would only wear a swimsuit. During the Finnish winter, I spend a lot of time going for dips in the freezing waters through holes in the ice, so the cold conditions suited my plans just fine. Really cold water and breath holding feel quite the same to me, that is, I feel both of them a lot, but I like it. If it gets too hot during a static apnea, I start to feel a little anxious and can find myself stopping my performance much quicker, even without there being any particular reason to do so.

Even though my normal preparations went well, I decide to change my plans on the spur of the moment. I think I’ll do my

static apnea wearing my bikini! After all, they’re very colourful and will no doubt look great in photos. Hah, it’s such a dull and gray day anyway, isn’t it Elina?

My timing schedule, planned to the second, is working fine and I find myself doing the right things at the right times. I feel good and the conditions are perfect. But what did all that matter, as I ended up not doing so well at all. I didn’t feel that happy afterwards, or did I really even care? I don’t know. It’s quite confusing. I really don’t know, even though I was the one who experienced it.

At the start, I felt that now I was ready to do a really long breath hold. After following the efforts of many of the other divers earlier during the day, I could see how much trouble they were experiencing with the colder temperatures. I thought a static apnea over 6 minutes should get me into the A-final. It felt like a very realistic goal. So, I decided to divert from my original plan with just a few seconds to go and take in much more air than usual to have a shot at getting at least a 6 minute result. Big mistake! Instead of sticking to what I had prepared for, I ended up getting a pain behind my sternum that was a result of having too much pressure in my lungs from taking in that extra air. I decided to let out some of it to relieve the pressure, but that was of no help anymore. I had to exhale completely and fill my lungs up once again from scratch.

What now? I just have to float face down in the water and think about things. And what now? When the involuntary contracts of the diaphragm are minor, there is no issue with having lungs full

of air. As the effort continues, the contractions get stronger and towards the end of the time they can be really strong indeed, almost violently so. Then, these strong contraction waves can greatly increase the pressure on the lungs. I get the two minute signal. Only 2 minutes gone and I’m already thinking of the 4 minute mark. I think I chose the wrong strategy, I’m sure of it.

Based on the pain I’m experiencing, it’s easy to decide whether to continue or not. I feel my sternum. The contractions of my diaphragm are still quite minor so no problems there, at least not yet. However, what might happen if the contractions get stronger and I damage something? It would prevent me from packing properly for the dynamic apnea finals, which are just two days away. I definitely want to be fit for them and be able to fully fill my lungs to get the best performance possible.

I come out of my thoughts for a moment and I’m now wondering how long I’ve been holding my breath. I give my assistant a sign to get the time. Almost 3 minutes. I’ve really be absorbed in my own thoughts. There should have also been a signal after 2.5 minutes, but I must have not noticed it.

My effort has now lasted for 3 minutes and 15 seconds. The contractions are still quite small. Apart from the somewhat uncomfortable pressing sensation, my breath hold is progressing very well. The pain behind my sternum feels the same as at the start, so no problems there. Perhaps I might still be able to do a long time? However, I predict that the contractions will be much too strong at the four minute mark.

What should I do? Three and a half minutes gone now. The contractions are still small, but I know they won’t be for long. If I

hurt myself, I can forget the dynamic apnea finals altogether. I don’t want to forget the finals!

Three minutes and 45 seconds. The contractions have gotten a little stronger, but not so strong that I’d need to come up just yet.

“But soon they will be.”, I think to myself. Are they? Should I come up now?

Four minutes. I blow all the air out of my lungs and raise my head up above the surface and breath. I smile. I perform the surface protocol. I now realize that I’m at the surface. Why in the world did I come up? Elina takes some photos. This situation is making me laugh, but it’s also annoying at the same time.

It still wasn’t the moment that I really had to come to the surface.

Or was it? I came up anyway and that can’t be changed now.

Was it a smart thing to do? It was, or maybe it wasn’t? I don’t know. Perhaps the contractions weren’t really as bad as I thought. Sometimes this happens. Perhaps the next contraction would have been much stronger and the one that would have caused the damage I was afraid of. But how will I ever know?

What a shame. Perhaps. How much? I don’t know.

A time of 5 minutes and 58 seconds would have been enough to make the A-final, and 5 minutes and 5 seconds for the B-final.

Mmm … getting into the B-final would have been quite possible.

Maybe even the A-final? I’ll now never now if I could have made it, because I didn’t try. That’s what happens when you come to the surface too early.

We walk back to our ‘hotel’ from the pool. My sister, Elina, and I stop to check out an old market square, which is full of some lovely old grannies perched behind stalls of fresh fruits and vegetables. I’m wondering where all the Finnish grannies might be hiding. I’m also thinking about whether I should have stuck with my original plan or, well? At least the colourful pink bikinis will make for some better photos than if I had of worn the black swimsuit.

My preparations for my competition went well.

The colder weather didn’t bother me.

Today I felt that I could do a really long breath hold.

An over 6 minute static apnea time should be enough to make the finals.

What now?

At the 2 minute point, I was already thinking about 4 minutes. I think I’ve used the wrong strategy.

Four minutes. I empty my lungs and raise my head above the surface and breath in. I smile.

Why in the world did I come up? Elina takes photos. This situation makes me laugh, but at the same time it’s also annoying.

GO AND SHOOT THAT The light in the pool is beautiful. I think the light in Belgrade is otherwise quite strange. It comes from above and is so strong. It burns and the shadows remain dark. The area around the eyes always seem to be dark. Strange, but in the pool the light is reflected beautifully. During the first days, I was shooting in bright sunshine and I forget to drink enough. Johanna feeds me salt and nuts. Then the weather cools down and it starts to rain. I photograph Mikko Anttonen while keeping my camera dry beneath the rain poncho I’d borrowed. I also take photos of some other competitors, as well as of Johanna as she performs her breath hold wearing only a pink bikini.

We work well as a team. Each one almost knows what the other one thinks and needs. In the evenings, Johanna writes her blog and looks through the photos while lying on her bed. Sometimes I hear her say, “Elina, your photos are wonderful.”, and I answer, “Johanna, you dive so well.” It’s wonderful to be with my sister. Johanna does 192 metres while I hyperventilate at the side of the pool. My fingers tingle and it’s hard to keep from dropping my camera. When Johanna did 133 metres in the dynamic apnea without fins, I was photographing Katya, the Russian judge, who shows Johanna the white care and shouts in Finnish, “I love you Johanna!” It was raining during the static apnea day. While the other competitors are getting dressed in black wetsuits, Johanna and I are busy picking out a nice colourful bikini and what make-up to put on. You just have to look good in photos!

For the most part, I concentrate on photographing Johanna, but of course I try to shoot others as well. There are freedivers from all around the world - all sorts of interesting people. I move around the pool areas, photograph and smile. It’s so nice here. Johanna and I should do this more often. Every so often, Johanna whispers, “Go and shoot that.”, and I go and do just that.

At the same time, Matti did a static of 5 minutes and 22 seconds.

Mikko Anttonen and Jaakko Keskitalo are diving at the same time in the next heat.

Mikko Pรถntinen assisting Mikko Anttonen, who did a static time of 6 minutes and 5 seconds, but got a red card.

Vesa Torpainen assisting Jaakko Keskitalo.

Jaakko receives a white card for his 5 minute and 53 second breath hold effort.

All the Finnish team members have completed their breath holds for today. Everyone feels great.

Christian Ernest and Amie Ramstedt after their dives.

CHRISTIAN ERNEST I used to swim under the surface even before I learned to swim on the surface. I swam with a mask in the ocean during the summers. This just continued and was always a summer hobby.

I got a scuba certificate when I was 17, but didn't continue scuba diving, only freediving. But it was only a summer hobby for fun. Then, a couple of years ago, a friend of mine trained freediving in a pool with a club and I went with him and since then I've been hooked! That was when I really started to train freediving.

The competition dive I'm really proud of is diving without fins down to 65 metres in the Swedish fiord Gullmarn. I think it is my biggest competition achievement in freediving, although I have dived a little bit deeper in warmer and clearer waters.

I think Dave Mullins is a cool customer, but that is just from what I've heard him say and what he writes. I have never met him.

Otherwise I don't have any idols, although I thing that I always have something to learn from other freedivers, regardless of how long they have been diving. There are seldom rights and wrongs and different people have different ways of diving and you can always pick up little things that might or might not suit yourself.

My main concern before the static competition was to stay warm, so I opted for a thicker suit and everything felt fine and very calm. Then I didn't have the willpower to push myself at all, so after the dive I was pretty disappointed with myself.

Kinoshita Sayuru from Japan qualified for the A-final.

WILLIAM TRUBRIDGE When I was 18 months old, my family sold our house in north England to buy a boat and sail from Gibraltar across the Atlantic, through the Caribbean, and across the Pacific to New Zealand. Â We lived on the boat until I was 10 years of age, so my youth was spent in contact with the water. It wasn't until I was 23, in 2003, that I discovered that freediving was a sport and travelled to Central America to try my hand at it. I fell in love with it straight away, and haven't looked back since.

Many of my peers are also my idols. Â Athletes like Natalia and Alexey Molchanov, Guillaume Nery and Dave Mullins are all an inspiration to me. My first idol and then later my first teacher in the sport was Umberto Pelizzari.

I hadn't done almost any pool training before the championships in Serbia, as they came at the end of my depth training season, so my goal was just to reach 7 minutes. My result was 6 minutes 34 seconds.

I prefer to perform in the morning, in all disciplines.

This dive was tough! I had first contractions at around 2 minutes 40 seconds, and because I hadn't trained it recently, it became mentally difficult very quickly after that point. At the end I was fighting hard to try and have some kind of relaxation, but I was happy with the end result and finishing close to the top of the B-final. I was trying not to think about anything, or at least direct my thoughts towards something relaxing or mundane, such as counting contractions.

I hadn't done almost any pool training before the championships in Serbia.

My goal was just to reach 7 minutes.

My result was 6 minutes 34 seconds.

All the qualifying heats have now been completed. Now we are free to wander around the city.

We head towards the markets that we passed every day.

The markets are colourful. We buy some cherries.

The ice cream man says something to us in Serbian, which we of course don’t understand.

There are lots of peaches and Serbian grannies.

We’re hungry.

Time to go and eat something other than bananas and nuts.

There’s lots of good food in Serbia, even though we had problems with the breakfasts at the competition dormitory.

DAY SIX

The breakfast was not enough to fill our stomachs.

I eat a banana and get lost in my thoughts. I’m in the finals for both dynamic apnea events.

Regardless of how my finals performances go, I know that I will end up with at least an 8th place if I come last.

Perhaps I should think about things a bit more positively?

I know that there is probably not much sense in my thoughts, but does that really matter? One thing I know for sure is that I’m nervous about tomorrow.

All the qualifying heats have now been completed and the finals don’t start until tomorrow. Today I don’t have to dive.

I wonder if I could not think about freediving today?

That might be a bit hard.

I’ll do my best.

IN THE CITY The diving, as well as working in the evenings, was so tiring for the us both, that it didn’t leave much time for looking around Belgrade. We were both suffering from tired eyes and tired brains. Also, all we’d really been eating was bananas, nuts and salt, because the food at the dormitory food hall didn’t offer anything wheat-free. Otherwise, the food hall was quite good and we were supposed to photograph that too, a traditional Serbian school food cafeteria! If it wasn’t for the wheat thing, we would have been quite happy to eat the food on offer. Not sure what would happen to Johanna’s dives in the finals if her breakfast had of been a big bun! Luckily, we still had more bananas and nuts.

We look at the map again and we notice that we’re not where we thought we were.

From our travel guide book, I read that Knez Mihailova street is THE street to visit in Belgrade. After walking about and looking at many of the other streets, we finally end up at THE street. It has many of the same kinds of stores that could be found in any other big city. Johanna first washes her hands in a fountain and we enter the Diesel store to photograph ourselves in the mirrors.

Next we go to the Converse shop, since that the salesman who is standing at the front of the store politely asks us with a smile, “Are you from somewhere else?” We end up photographing him as well as the shoes.

The Finnish team suggested that we should go and see the Bohemian quarter, which is apparently comparable with the Montmartre area of Paris. We should also have a meal there. We know that it’s quite close. We look at our map and start walking,

We ask a woman passing by where we are. We really weren’t where we thought we were! We start to walk again and we end up at exactly the place we started from. Finally, we find the Bohemian quarter. We’re really hungry and tired now so we choose a restaurant and order some popular traditional Serbian dishes - grilled chicken wrapped in bacon. So yummy!

We take a taxi back to our ‘hotel’. During the ride, we thought that if we were rich we might actually have bought the driver a new taxi.

Elina

Belgrade isn’t the first place that would come to mind if I was thinking of a holiday destination.

However, the city was wonderful.

I’m happy that we are here. I could definitely come here again.

The Kalemegdan fortress is beautiful and old.

There are many cafes and restaurants there.

We chose a cafe situated on the roof of the fortress.

I’m tired. Today I’m going to drink one cup of coffee.

We walked from the fortress to the shopping street.

Elina

Johanna.

The city has many grey buildings.

The red buses brighten up the streetscape.

We enter the Diesel store. First I look at the clock. No, today we don’t need to check the time!

Luckily, we found more than a clock to look at in the cellar.

Many of the same shops, which are popular in other big cities, can also be found in Knez Mihailov street.

We just had to step inside the Converse store.

And we couldn’t not go, since we were specially invited in.

The shoes all looked delicious!

We chose some pink ones for Elina.

The centrepoint of Belgrade is Republic Square.

The national museum and theatre can be found at the fringes of the square.

The area is full of cafes, restaurants and shops.

The opening hours of the shops are long. Some are even open from 7am to midnight.

The shopping street is many kilometres long.

There were many places to buy popcorn.

We just had to taste some.

There’s a busy metro tunnel network under the city.

Historical museum of Serbia.

The main street in the Bohemian quarter is Skadarlija.

It is somewhat hidden from the centre, but not so far from Republic Square.

The street is 400 metres long and full of things to see.

It is lovely to walk up and down the shady tree lined cobblestone streets.

It’s also nice to just sit down at a cafe or restaurant and enjoy some Serbian treats.

The Serbian food culture is known for its grilled meats and salads.

DAY SEVEN

FIRST FINAL. DYNAMIC APNEA WITH FINS The official name of length diving underwater with fins is called dynamic apnea with fins. Funny. Should it be necessary to also list all the other equipment that aren’t used during the dive? I absolutely wish to used the incorrect terms. I understand the history of why the terms are strange. Ten years ago, there was only one type of event in dynamic apnea and it was definitely the best idea to use fins if you wanted to go as far as possible.

At the time, it would have felt really silly to add ‘with fins’ to the name of the discipline. Yes, back then dynamic apnea was done using fins, as it is today. However, now ‘the fins’ is just actually just one fin since the single monofin, which was first added to competitions in 2005, has all but replaced the use of two separate fins. How could that use the name of the old discipline? In Finland, however, the name should probably been changed. Actually, I pretty much have already changed it.

I fell asleep absolutely exhausted about a quarter past eight in the evening. I wake up at about a quarter to seven, but hit the snooze on my alarm. After another ten minutes I make another attempt at getting up. I guess I’d better get up since the finals start today. I’m feeling nervous, really nervous. Help! I hit the snooze button again to get another ten minutes. The alarm goes off once more. I feel so incredibly tired, but now I don’t feel as nervous anymore. Luckily I already packed my equipment yesterday. I don’t really feel like going for a shower. I’m still a bit sleepy as I take in some salt and water. I drag myself to breakfast, yawning the entire time. I hope I can get maybe an egg and some fruit. I just keep yawning. My dive time is at 10.40am and I’d really like to be at the pool about two hours beforehand.

I definitely need to eat something proper or I’ll be too hungry before my dive. I yawn once more. No eggs for breakfast today, but they have wheat flour. White bread and sausages. I can’t eat any of it, at least not today since I have to dive. Luckily I find a banana, so that’s my breakfast for today. I’ll see if I can get something else later. Still yawning.

When I arrive at the pool complex, I find myself a quiet place in the stands and end up taking a nap. I dream that there is someone next to me inserting an old fashioned film roll into a camera. It’s been a really long time since I last remember what that sounded like. It’s beautiful and it wakes me up. I fall asleep and start to dream once again. This time, I find myself standing at the side of the pool just looking at the ground. I see a huge puddle in which I see reflected the bright blue sky. It makes the surface of the puddle look like a mirror. Then I awake. Only an hour to go now before my dive.

Today I’m feeling a bit chilly. My toes are feeling frozen, but that’s no big deal. In addition to feeling cold, I’m still feeling tired. Oh well. I’m still a bit nervous. Ok, fine. I was afraid that I’d be more nervous than I am. Is it possible to enjoy being nervous like this? I think it’s a good thing to feel at least a little nervous, but I definitely don’t like being really nervous. It’s just too much, but how do I really feel at the moment? I don’t know? Why don’t I know? I just don’t like it. I’m still yawning, still nervous and still cold.

I suddenly become alert to the thought that there was something important to think about, but was there? I return to my thoughts.

I don’t know how feeling nervous is supposed to feel. Why not?

How could I learn to enjoy this feeling? How could I practise it? I decide to find out how feeling nervous really feels – but not today. Today, all I will do is dive. I stretch and yawn once more.

I’m still feeling cold.

forward quietly, gently. I can feel the water on my fingers and arms. It feels good. I really do like this. I open my eyes and prepare for the first turn. Just one more arm sweep and I’ll be there. Wow, that came quickly. I almost scared myself and stop for a moment at the end to relax.

What am I nervous about anyway? My dive will last for only a little over three minutes, and it’s going to feel uncomfortable for only a part of that time. I make the decision to not worry about anything anymore. I’m just going to dive.

I turn, push off again and head a little deeper towards the bottom of the pool. Maybe about 20 centimetres deeper than I’m used to. It’s all good. I close my eyes and keep diving. This time I open my eyes in good time as I approach the wall. Good. To reach the end, I do one more easy arm sweep. 50 metres behind me now. I feel relaxed. There is no discomfort at all, at least not yet.

Just five minutes to go. It’s windy and the water temperature is 23 degrees, but it looks cold. I place a towel around my shoulders. I take off my two sets of pants, hoody and jacket before wrapping myself up again in a towel. Four minutes. I close my eyes. It’s cold. I slip into the water. It feels really cold. I place the weight around my neck. The buckle opens. Is it broken? Can’t do anything about it now if it is. No, it’s fine. I fasten it again. I notice that I’m shaking. I breathe. I shake. I take another breath and shake some more.

I can feel the surface of the water around the top of my chest. I can feel the wind on my shoulders. I breathe out strongly and try to relax all my muscles, but I’m still shaking. Only 10 seconds left before I have to go. My nose clip isn’t on right. I have time to make a quick adjustment. I fill my lungs up for the last time. It’s now my time to dive. I go below the surface. It’s not cold anymore here below the surface and apart from the silence, there’s nothing else here. I close my eyes and push off from the wall and start to glide. I like the way it feels. I keep moving

My dive continues. I focus on my glide. Arm sweep. Glide. Kick.

Glide. Kick. Another glide followed by an arm sweep. I feel good. Shouldn’t it feel bad already, at least a little bit? Glide. My diving reflex doesn’t seem to have triggered properly. Glide.

That’s not a good thing. Glide. If no lactic acid is produced, then valuable oxygen is being used up. Glide. Not good. I think this dive is going to be a short one. Glide. I’m now at 75 metres and another turn.

Once more I push off the wall. I try to relax and get away from my thoughts about the length of my dive. I can feel the water on my face. I can feel it on my toes too. It feels nice. The discomfort comes quickly and strongly. Really strongly. My diaphragm contracts. I close my eyes. My chest feels like it is being squashed, my diaphragm hurts, my ribcage muscles are tensing and my throat is tightening up. I feel like I have to start

breathing, right now. Just 50 metres to go. Or at least 50 metres.

I’m not sure yet. I drop my head as far as possible to try and keep my next relaxed. Another contraction. I keep moving forward. It starts to feel worse with each successive contraction, but I keep going. I’m at the end again. It’s 100 metres now and another turn.

I relax and keep diving. I have no idea how far from the end I am, but I’m sure I can do one more arm sweep. My eyes are closed and I’m just focusing on myself. How do I feel? Every part of my body feels bad now. I’m now at the wall again. I turn and push off, just like before. I glide and kick, just like before. I can feel that my heel has broken the surface. Oh no. A yellow card. Some points are going to be deducted. I do one more arm sweep and then come up and hold on to the lane rope.

I breathe three times and open my eyes. I notice that my arms are shaking, as is my abdomen. I breathe in again, hold my breath and contract all my muscles to increase the pressure in my chest. I need to increase my blood pressure quickly or I might pass out. My arms are still shaking. I repeat the process. I take off my mask and nose clip. My hands are still shaking, but I need to breathe some more. I hear my assistant ordering me to show the ok sign. It’s coming, but I need to breathe just one more time. Quickly I feel better. I give the ok sign and all is good.

Ok sign. “I am ok”, I say. I feel good. I can’t believe that it would take more than 15 seconds to do that. I look at the judges and my assistant. I know that my dive was at least one metre too far,

but if I remember the last seconds, at least I shouldn’t be getting a red card for losing consciousness.

I know that if I had of lost consciousness, then I wouldn’t have remembered what happened during those last seconds. My assistant gives me a signal that everything is not ok. Was it because I broke the surface or because I lost consciousness? I don’t think I lost consciousness, but then again, no diver ever thinks that they did.

The judges need to wait for one minute before giving their final verdict. I’m not cold anymore. I wait. I’m not tired anymore either.

I wait and wait. I lean on the lane rope and wait some more.

Today, no one is shouting from a megaphone to get off the lane ropes, as often happened when I went to the pool as a child.

That memory makes me laugh. Today, the minutes seem to be taking longer than usual. I hope that all the following minutes of this day will last just as long. This day could last for a year, or two. A yellow card is shown. As I suspected I’m getting penalized from breaking the surface with my heel. However, my result is still good enough to be the 7th best in the world in dynamic apnea this year … without fins that is (or without a helmet or watch for that matter).

What should one think about that?

I’m cold.

It’s raining.

Very nice. Do I have to dive again today?

The water looks cold.

The water is cold.

Nevermind.

Under the surface, it isn’t cold anymore.

I push off from the wall.

This time I remembered to first perform two kicks.

The water feels nice.

I close my eyes and dive forward.

Once again, I dive too close to the surface.

I perform a relaxed arm sweep with one hand to get to the wall and turn.

I focus on gliding.

75 metres. Turn.

I relax and luckily I’m able to eliminate thoughts about the length of the dive.

Suddenly, the bad feeling comes on really strongly.

I feel worse with each successive diaphragmatic contraction.

I continue my dive. The wall. The turn at 100 metres.

I don’t know how far I have dived from the wall, but I can still do one more arm sweep.

A turn at 125 metres and then I break the surface by mistake.

I’m not cold anymore. Or maybe a little.

DAY EIGHT

FREEDIVING IS WONDERFUL Here are a few examples.

All mammals have a diving reflex. It is said to be a remnant from a time long ago when mammals lived in the oceans. The diving reflex of ocean mammals such as whales is stronger, but essentially it works in the same ways as with humans. When a human holds their breath and submerges their face in water, the diving reflex is triggered. When this happens, the heart rate slows down and the circulation is directed away from the extremities towards the vital organs in the abdomen and chest, as well as the brain to ensure they are supplied with sufficient amounts of oxygen to keep functioning properly. The spleen shrinks, which results in more red blood cells being released into the circulation. When I dive I can’t, of course. consciously squeeze my spleen or regulate my circulation. It all happens automatically. I guess that’s why it’s called a reflex.

The breathing reflex is responsible for triggering the contractions of the diaphragm. An increase in pressure also strengthens the diving reflex. I think I once read from a certain book about freediving that at a depth of 100 metres, the heart has been measured to beat as few as 7 times a minute. I don’t know if that‘s true. I’ll have to check. Perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration? In anycase, when I dive, knowing all that doesn’t help me to decrease my own heart rate.

My spleen is 11.5 centimetres long. During a three minute breath hold, it will shrink down to about six centimetres, but that fact has never been of any significance to me. I don’t know how wide my spleen is and even if I did I’m sure that wouldn’t be of any help either during a dive.

During a period of 10 minutes, when my haemoglobin levels were measured every two minutes from blood samples taken from my finger, the measurements ranged from 148 to 169.

Between the measurements, I performed breath holds, firstly without moving, which resulted in the values dropping, and then on the move, which resulted in the values increasing. I remember quite well that it felt very uncomfortable and that I wasn’t able to perform the planned breath hold times, not even once. In the end, all that information hasn’t been of any use to me.

When I fill my lungs up with a normal inhale, their volume is 5.2 litres. When I pack as much air into my lungs as possible, the volume has been measured at 7.7 litres. The more air you can hold in your lungs, the longer it should be possible to dive. I understand that. However, whales and seals actually empty their lungs before starting their dives. The reason they can do this is that their muscles have a greater concentration of myoglobin than humans. I don’t know exactly how much myoglobin my muscles contain, but it doesn’t really matter to me anyway. When I’m diving for long periods of time, sometimes I actually notice that I myself occasionally also prefer to hold my breath when my lungs are empty.

When I dive for depth, the 5.2 litres of in my air will be squeeze down to a volume of 2.6 litres at a depth of 10 metres due to the effect of the increased water pressure. At a depth of 20 metres, it would be 1.3 litres, at 30 metres it would be 650 millilitres and at 40 metres the volume would be 325 millilitres. At 50 metres the volume of the air in my lungs would be only about 163

millilitres. To dive deeper it is necessary to transfer some of the small volume of that air to the mouth for the purpose of equalizing the pressure in the ears, as well as other air spaces such as the maxillary sinuses. At the surface, the volume of air remaining in my lungs after a full exhale is about 1.5 litres.

Again, it’s all very interesting, but none of those facts has helped me to equalize better during deep dives. I actually think the effect might be the opposite.

The only thing that has really ever helped me to dive for longer, further or deeper is a very simple one. When I get to the point where my mind tells me to stop, I stop and try and make sense of how I really feel, and where. It’s difficult. Sometimes it’s really difficult, but every time I figure it out, it feels amazing. For me to be able to fully focus on it, I can’t think about anything else at the same time, and that’s exactly the hardest thing to do. You simply have to be able to focus on one thing at a time. However, it seems that many random thoughts tend to pop into my mind from all directions. I just have to be aware of them and deal with them as quickly as I can and make sure they don’t come back to further disturb my dive. When a particular thought does come back repeatedly, as they sometimes do, I know that it will need a lot more of my proper attention and analysis. For example, should I have forgotten to make a note on my calendar for an important meeting, I know for sure it’s going to pop into my mind at my next training session, and do so over and over again until I’ve dealt with it. In my opinion, that’s the best and most reliable way of getting things in order. Convenient, isn’t it?

Today I made the decision to find out what feeling nervous really

feels like. An interesting plan except that today I’m not feeling nervous at all. Oh well, so much for my research, but I’m sure I’ll get another chance another time. Now perhaps I can just focus on stretching and maybe thinking about how it feels. It feels good. Being motivated by this idea, I promised the other team members to conduct a course on this theme for all those who feel that their lives feel dull, boring and never changing. I’m sure a few good suggestions could be shared. Fortunately, no one here is interested to register. Hardly surprising given that the target group is completely the wrong one, since no one here is suffering from that problem!

Everything seemed to go well with today’s dive. At least, nothing seemed to go badly. It’s not cold. It’s not hot. I’m not nervous.

My heart rate is low. I’m on schedule. My ankle is taped well and it doesn’t really hurt at all. My lower limb still aches a bit, but that’s normal for me. I don’t really think of it as pain anymore. I’m able to put on my monofin without difficulties. My neck weight buckle stays fastened this time and my nose clip is in the right position. I end up packing an extra breath, which I hadn’t planned to do, but it doesn’t feel bad. I kick, glide and turn, as I’m used to doing. I’m not thinking about how far I have gone already or how far I still have to go. I’m not thinking about triggering the diving reflex. All I’m focusing on is my kick and it feels good. I’m now focusing on the moment that I’m going to come up. I think about how it’s going to feel. Suddenly I’m not sure if I can continue, but then I already find myself on the surface. Why am I at the surface?

I breathe in some fresh air and at the same moment I know that I

could have continued. Well, at least for one more metre. I feel really good. I perform the required surface protocol and wait for a white card from the judges. The minute lasts for exactly one minute.

I came to the surface too early and I don’t know why, but no doubt better this way than coming up too late. My result is a white card for a distance of 182 metres. Why did I come up? I’m sure there was some good reason or then maybe there wasn’t.

There’s nothing I can do about it now anyway, so just best to let it go. Once again, I’m the 7th best female dynamic apnea freediver in the world this year … this time with fins. I guess both my dynamic apnea performances show consistency and strengthen my self-belief that I’m the 7th best. I’m happy with that. However, can you ever be sure that you are ever good enough? Perhaps it’s a disease that many sportspeople suffer from?

If I want to be better, I need to practise more. It sounds like a good idea since I love the water. However, if I want to be better at freediving, I’d also have to do less of something else, and that doesn’t sound like a good idea. I have so many things in my life that I enjoy and for which I already haven’t been able to find enough time. Maybe I just need to just forget about this idea, at least for the moment. Now, I’m going to go and do something fun. Am I the 7th best in the world at prioritizing the things in my life? I laugh at that thought, even though I’m by myself. I don’t think I am. I think that I’m just going to enjoy being the world’s 7th best in dynamic apnea.

Today I made the decision to find out what feeling nervous really feels like.

An interesting plan except that today I’m not feeling nervous at all.

Oh well, so much for my research.

I’m sure I’ll get another chance another time.

Now, perhaps, I can just focus on stretching and maybe thinking about how it feels. It feels good.

The Finnish team sets up camp at the end of the pool where there’s a good view of the pool.

The entire team was there to support and help all the divers that had made the finals.

Milorad Vlajić and Tanc Sade following the competition.

TANC SADE, AUSTRALIA When growing up in Australia, going to the beach was a weekly activity. We spent entire summers hanging out in the water. It was here that I developed a love for the ocean. Before too long, I had my parents get me a mask and fins and from there I graduated to spearfishing. I've been spearfishing for most of my life, but it's only been in the last two years that I crossed over to competitive freediving. 
 My best results: I have done a 218m dynamic which is the current Australian National Record, and I did a 155m Dynamic No Fins at the world championships. My idols in freediving: Wow, there are so many. Mikko P., Will Trubridge, Goran Colak, Matt Mallina, most of the guys in the top ten. They've all got something special in their own unique way. 
 I didn't feel great going into my dive in the DYN finals. I had to remove a marker from the pool moments before my swim (my own fault), which distracted me, and I was nursing a chest infection. When confronted with setbacks like these I tend to just say "What the hell.", and give it my all. I swam a PB of 229 m but unfortunately it ended with a red card. And while I was disappointed with the ultimate result, I couldn't put a value on the knowledge I gathered from the experience. For my first world championships, I think I did OK.

Tanc Sade.

It’s important to be relaxed before every performance.

Tanc preparing for his dive.

The AIDA president, Kimmo Lahtinen, arrives at the pool to support the competitors. In Kimmo’s opinion, the competition has been organized very well.

Daan Verhoeven. A new day shooting underwater.

Tanc Sade dives in the B-final.

Jaakko Keskitalo is also in the B-final.

The countdown begins.

Jaakko places 13th with Tanc in 15th.

VEERA LĂ“PEZ-LEHTO, FINLAND I started freediving after looking for something new to do in place of synchronized swimming. I read about freediving, which I initially knew nothing about, from a notice by the Vesikot Diving Club and decided to give it a try. I even remember the exact day, which was 29.10.2009!

By best results are: Dynamic apnea without fins 134m; dynamic apnea with fins 165m; static apnea 7min03sec; constant weight without fins 41m; constant weight with fins 65m; free immersion 50m.

I was really nervous for the dynamic apnea with fins final. It was a nice day, which was quite relaxing and gave me a comfortable state of mind. I knew that after this I would not be able to dive in a 50 metre pool for quite a while, and so it was nice to dive a little. Perhaps I had already formulated in my mind the idea that my competition was already over many days ago, so the result was not that remarkable. After the dive, I was a little disappointed, but there will always be more competitions in the future. So I didn’t allow my dive result to ruin my day. It was nice to be able to support the others without having to worry anymore about my own performances.

Next is the women’s B-final. Yoneyama Miyako prepares.

Ambar Peralta and Veera L贸pez-Lehto waiting for the countdown.

Mikko PÜntinen focusing with Mikko Niemeläinen assisting.

The safety divers are ready for the divers to start.

Before my dive, I want to be alone for a moment.

The same routines are repeated before each of my competition performances.

In competitions, it’s good for the competition suit to be as tight as possible to achieve a good glide.

I often dive without goggles. This week, however, using goggles seems to have been a good choice.

I feel relaxed as I start my dive.

I don’t think about how far I still have to dive, or how far I have already gone either.

Suddenly I’m not sure I can continue. Then I’m already at the surface.

A white card. The minute lasts a minute.

I was in 7th place again.

It’s nice to be a part of the team.

Today, after the official competitions have been completed, the organizers have provided the possibly for competitors to attempt national records.

NATALIA MOLCHANOVA, RUSSIA

AMBER BOURKE, AUSTRALIA

SOFIA TAPANI, SWEDEN

Natalia Molchanova achieved another world record with a distance of 234 metres. Natalia has achieved 40 world records already during her freediving careers. The first of them was in 2003 in the dynamic apnea with fins discipline with a distance of 150 metres.

The nicest location I have freedived in is probably Hideaway Island in Vanuatu. I did my SSI freediving instructor course there in March.

Clear, tropical water and a big drop off right off the beach. Paradise!

I've been free diving for 4.5 years and DNF is my favourite. My PB is 145 m in DNF, and in Belgrade I came in 6th at 144 m. In DYN I did 194 m and came in 9th place.

At the end of the day, Nicholas Mevoli attempts a new USA record. He is assisted by Tanc Sade.

Laura will also attempt to achieve a Finnish record today.

Hanako Hirose attempts a Japanese record.

NICHOLAS MEVOLI, USA I started free diving in Florida when I was 5 years old. I would hide on the bottom of my pool to escape. I wanted to find that quiet space between my brain and the real world. My best results are 100m in Constant weight. I guess the 2nd place goes to watching my 4 year old niece reach the bottom of 3 meter pool because she wants to be like me.

The preparation for a DYN record sucks. I get so nervous in the pool and I’m not sure why, but it's not so uncommon amongst all divers to suffer from nerves. When staring at a dive that is over 100m deep in the ocean, I'm totally cool looking down at the bottom of that ‘well’, but staring at those chlorine covered tiles makes me shake. I tried to do a national record at the World Championships this year in DYN, but came up short because I wanted a white card. I am slowly realizing that the records will come if I just let the expression during the dive speak for itself. I am not making excuses, but reaching for those records every time I touch the water is killing me. I never really want a long dive in the pool because being under the water in the pool is the last place I want to be. Just too many thoughts creep out. I hope that changes in the future.

Nicolas Mevoli prepares for his performance.

Nicolas: “Preparing for record attempts is not fun.�

Nicolas: “A long dive in the pool makes me more anxious than a dive in the ocean.�

The competition is over for me. Tomorrow I can join in with everyone else in the crowd.

DAY NINE

We take the bus to check out the city.

The trams and buses were cheap to use.

I’m not diving in the static apnea finals, so today I don’t have any rush to get to the competition venue.

We try to get some kind of idea about what this beautiful city is like.

BETWEEN THE EAST AND WEST We had the chance to go and explore Belgrade. Since Johanna was not in the static finals, in the morning we had the opportunity to jump on a bus to go and check out the ruins of some bombed buildings before heading to the competition venue. The trams and buses were cheap to use. We got off the bus in the city as did Dragan Kujundzic, a Belgrade based photographer. We knew that he was a photographer straight away when we saw him in the bus. He had a bunch of prints under his arm, a camera around his neck, as well as a key ring with ‘Nikon’ written on it. So, we decided to ask for his advice on how to get to the bombed houses, which he freely then told us.

Then we take his picture! www.dragankujundzic.com

Belgrade is an interesting city. It’s the capital city of Serbia and one of Europe’s oldest. It’s a city between the east and west and has a history of war. We didn’t have that much time to look around the city, but we did our best to get some idea of the atmosphere of the place.

Elina

Dragan Kujundzic points us in the right direction.

The Sava river divides Belgrade into two parts: the new and the old.

In the old part of the city, there are many historical buildings.

It’s a warm day.

We like this.

The public parks are clean and tidy.

With Dragan’s directions, we easily find our destination.

The city is alive, even though the ruins remind you of the past.

In the city, we find many interesting places.

And many beautiful details.

Next it’s time to go to the pool.

STATIC FINAL Elina and I arrive at the pool just a few moments before the start of the apnea static finals. I’m holding a cup of coffee, which I can now happily sip on as I don’t need to worry about looking at the clock, organizing my equipment, or freezing at the edge of the pool. Today I get to be just one of the people in the audience.

The world’s 32 best breath holders are preparing for their performances in the finals, while the remaining 120 best freedivers are in the audience preparing to cheer them on.

Some incredible performances raise the level of the excitement everyone is feeling. During Natalia Molchanova’s world record setting breath hold effort, everyone in the audience also holds their breaths. Luckily I’ve practised holding my breath a few times before, so maybe there does seem to be some use for this skill in normal life after all! Natalia’s effort lasts for an absolutely incredible 9 minutes and 2 seconds, during which time I’m sure I took at least a few breaths.

After the last competition performance, all the freedivers jump into the pool and together perform a mass group breath hold for one minute. Elina says “No worries, I can do that anytime.”, but like for every diver, unwanted thoughts during performances can ruin your plans unexpectedly and she stops after just 30 seconds. Nevermind. This was a great way to end the competition and begin preparations for the evening’s prize giving ceremony.

Many of the competitors today were a part of the general audience.

There have been many days of judging. Today is the last.

William Trubridge places 8th with a time of 7 minutes and 5 seconds..

Aristides Ioannidis places 15th with a static apnea time of 6 minutes and 40 seconds.

Proquin Nicolas’s apnea time of 6 minutes and 45 seconds earns him 14th place overall.

There are three Japanese freedivers in the A-final. Sayuri Kinoshita places 7th with a time of 5 minutes and 53 seconds.

Austrian Bernadette Schildorfer places 5th with her 6 minute and 24 second effort.

Everyone is excitedly waiting for Natalia Molchanova’s 3rd world record in these world championships.

A new static apnea world record time of 9 minutes and 2 seconds. An unbelievable performance.

The favourite in the men’s static apnea competition is Goran Colak.

Goran Colak: “If my competition performance had of been a practice effort, I would have stopped it early.�

Alexey Molchanov earns 4th place with a time of 8 minutes and 33 seconds.

Goran Colak wins gold with a static apnea time of 8 minutes and 59 seconds.

GORAN COLAK, KROATIA Well, most freedivers my age got interested in diving after the movie ‘The Big Blue’. So the same thing happened to me. I saw the movie, got fascinated with the sport, went to the sea and tried it… now I am where I am, diving for a living.

My best result must be my 281m WR record from Belgrade. The dive was not only long, but it was probably the best dive I ever did.

It felt kind of easy and, at the end, I had more meters in me for sure.

The best place I’ve freedived in? I don't know, any place is good when you are in shape. Then again, if you are not in shape even the most perfect place and organization will not make it better. For fun, it must be Egypt. But then again, I have not dived in all the places I wanted yet.

Before my static I was both calm and nervous. Nervous because I really needed to win it and there were no excuses for me if I didn't do it. And calm because I was sure no one there could beat me unless I did something wrong…

I was thinking it’s going to be everything but easy, and from the start, or after few minutes, I knew it was a bad dive. If it would have been a training dive, I would for sure had bailed out of it. But in this case I had to go with it and try to make it the best I could. So I relaxed and just listened to my safety diver informing me how others are popping out one by one. When the last diver was out, I just stopped the agony and dived out also. I was relieved, my dream about winning all 3 gold medals from one championship finally came true. I was a little bit upset about my static dive and my time, but in a few years no one will remember the time just the place.

The competition is over. Now everyone into the pool!

NEVER FREEDIVE ALONE! There are two governing freediving organizations worldwide.

One is AIDA, which was established by the French, and the second is CMAS, the World Underwater Federation. Both organize their own competitions, maintain a register of world records and educate freedivers. In practice, freediving is almost the same under the guidance of both organizations, apart from some small differences in competition rules.

The Freediving Team of Finland has members all around Finland and are active in many cities and towns. Often the freediving related activities are organized by the local scuba diving clubs, but the FDTF also has its own pool training times in some locations. The easiest way to begin freediving is to send a message to your local scuba diving club if they are involved with freediving or then to the FDTF.

In Finland, freediving is under the guidance of the Diving Federation of Finland, which is a member of AIDA. Diving clubs organize freediving introductions to give people a safe way to begin experiencing and learning about the sport. To be able to participate in freediving safely, it is essential that newcomers attend a course.

Here below you will find the contact details for those clubs that are actively involved in the sport.

Many have tried to see how far they can swim in a pool, but without the proper basic knowledge, this can be a very dangerous activity. For that reason, many swimming pools do not allow it. The most important and respected rule in freediving is to never freedive alone.

In other words, the most important thing in freediving is the safety of the freedivers. Safe diving practices, including the physiological rules that affect freediving, are covered in the courses.

In Finland, information about courses can best be found from the Freediving Team of Finland website freedivingfinland.net

Kuopio Kuopion urheilusukeltajat Mikko Anttonen manttone@gmail.com

Lahti Lahden Urheilusukeltajat Antero Joki antero.joki@gmail.com

Tampere Freediving Team of Finland Jaakko Pasanen Jaakko.o.pasanen@gmail.com Dino Nerweyi Dino.nerweyi@gmail.com

Kouvola Vesikot Timo Pöntinen tpontinen@gmail.com

Joensuu Joensuun Urheilusukeltajat Janne Hietala janne.hietala@arcusys.fi

Pääkaupunkiseutu Cetus Jonérik Ekström jonerikekstrom@gmail.com Turku Sunken Logs Ville Autti autti.ville@gmail.com

At the final ceremony, the prizes were handed out and everyone had a great time.

Each to their own.

The stress of competition is over.

Everyone can now relax and take it easy.

Much more than results and prizes were gained from the competition.

Everyone made new friends.

Kimmo Lahtinen and Marie Martinez enjoying the atmosphere.

FINAL CEREMONY The world championship competitions are now over and it’s time for the final prize giving ceremony. The world’s best freedivers come up to the stage one by one to receive their medals.

Natalia Molchanova achieved new world records in every competition discipline. Goran Colak from Croatia also achieved first place in each discipline in the men’s competition. The judges and assistants also received their own medals. The atmosphere is happy, the competition is over and it’s now time to party. Many of the athletes travel and compete around the world.

The next competition, the World Depth Freediving Championships, will be held in Kalamata, Greece.

We feel good. Johanna’s competition went well and we got lots of work done. Just getting to spend this time together was also fantastic.

DYNAMIC APNEA WITHOUT FINS (DNF), WOMEN Natalia Molchanova, Russia, 182m Katarina Turcinovic, Croatia, 175m Amber Bourke, Australia, 164m

DYNAMIC APNEA WITHOUT FINS (DNF), MEN Goran Colak, Croatia, 206m Vanja Peles, Croatia, 200m Alexey Molchanov, Russia, 195m

DYNAMIC APNEA WITH FINS (DYN), WOMEN Natalia Molchanova, Russia, 234m Ilaria Bonin, Italy, 233m Katarina Turcinovic, Croatia, 212m

DYNAMIC APNEA WITH FINS (DYN), MEN Goran Colak, Croatia, 281m Alexandr Bubenchikov, Ukraine, 259m Alexandr Kostishen, Russia, 256m

STATIC APNEA (STA), WOMEN Natalia Molchanova, Russia, 9 min 2 sec Veronika Dittes, Austria, 7 min 44 sec Gabriela Grezlova, Czech Republic, 6 min 54 sec

STATIC APNEA (STA), MEN Goran Colak, Croatia, 8 min 59 sec Giorgos Panagiotakis, Greece, 8 min 46 sec Eugen Goettling, Austria, 8 min 46 sec

Natalia Molchanova won gold in all three competition disciplines.

Goran Colak also won three gold medals.

All competitors, as well as the organizers, deserve a huge round of applause for their great efforts.

Today we’ll be collecting some memories, as tomorrow it will be time for everyone to head home, except us.

DAY TEN

We are exploring the city. We find the Ethnography museum and step inside.

We get in for free.

It was quiet and peaceful in the museum.

THINGS TO SEE One of our favourite places in Belgrade was the Kalemegdan fortress, which rises above the city and offers the best natural viewpoints to the city, as well as the Sava and Tonava rivers. It’s the heart of Belgrade and the oldest area of the city. For centuries the citizens of Belgrade lived within the fortress, so the history of the fortress is really Belgrade’s history. We walk around the fortress and around the park within. We check out the viewpoints and the many tables and stalls of the street sellers. We sit on a bench and marvel at another bench, which looks like a watermelon. There is a zoo in the area, as well as a children’s play park and lots of statues, monuments, a museum and different kinds of sports fields. There are lots of cafes and we choose the one with the most beautiful views.

We take photographs of some of the ‘Belgrade grannies’. They are absolutely adorable! We make Johanna a necklace, which reads, maybe not very surprisingly, ‘Johanna’. We marvel at the lace fabrics and smile at the lovely ‘grannies’ who made them.

The competition is over and we now have time to relax and enjoy the city.

We walk along the long streets and alleys looking for interesting places.

The week has been an amazing experience.

For a moment, we are just tourists.

We marvel at the very dexterous jewellery maker.

I get a necklace that says ‘Johanna’

We can now drink coffee without worrying about it, as well as strawberry sorbet.

We feel like tasting everything.

We exchange a few words and many smiles with the local ‘grannies’.

The grannies work hard to created their lace fabrics.

There is an expansive park surrounding the Kalemegdan fortress.

We were surprised to find a tennis court in the middle of the fortress.

The south-east gate of the fortress was built in about 1750 and was named after Istanbul.

For centuries the citizens of Belgrade lived within the fortress, its history is also really Belgrade’s history.

The area is comprised of the upper and lower city, as well as the parks.

Serbia’s capital city is about 2000 years old.

The city has been destroyed over 40 times during its history.

It has been levelled by bombing over 100 times.

In the area, gates from many different historical time periods can be found.

We could easily spend the entire day looking around the ruins and fortifications.

The Kalemegdan fortress offers the best natural viewpoints to the city, as well as the Sava and Danube rivers.

Both new and old art can be found in the area.

A war museum is located in the fortress.

Many small stalls and a genuine market atmosphere can been found in the park areas.

The sun sets. It begins to rain. We head home.

KIITOS

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