One of the hot shots: Herbert Nitsch, the Flying Fish

The world‘ s best freedivers are extreme sportmen – in every sense of the word. They are very zealous when it comes to training and they have stood in line a number of times when they were distributing „ego”. Sometimes they even risk their lives to prove that no one can hold on longer than they do. Due to this mentality, freediving has become one of the most competitive sports. The aces are keeping track of each other‘ s performances, they always know who is in good form. If someone breaks their records, you can bet a larger sum (without risking too much) that they are going to take a dive to get it back – whatever the cost.

The three Scandinavian world record holders Stig, Peter and Yamina Enedahl-Mekki

That‘ s why the attitude of three Scandinavian freedivers was a little surprising. The Danish Federation was making the preparations for their world record attempts in secret…and they surprised the world in style. You could read our interview with they new world record holder of the Dynamic - with fins category, Peter Pedersen. His new record is 200 meters. (That means that he was able to swim 200 meters with one breath of air.) In the without fins category you need to make stronger strokes with your legs, therefore you consume more energy. Consequently, the distance you can conquer with one breath is shorter. In the Dynamic – without fins category the new world record is 166 meters. It was achieved by Peter Pedersen‘ s training partner, Stig Severinsen. The records were made on July 19th, 2003.

Stig is also Danish, he is 30 years old, 185 cm tall, weights 82 kg. He does a number of sports that sound exotic to us, and he is also a scientist. He works at the Stereological Research Laboratory at the University of Aarhus as a PhD student. Stig is currently preparing for a paper but he had time for us for an interview.

Stig Severinsen

- You do research, you play underwater rugby, you swim world records... But you did not go to the Freediving World Championships (Cyprus Open). Did not you have time for it?

- I have played underwater rugby in the elite division the last ten years. The four years or so I have played on the national team. Because I was training for both a Nordic and a World Championships in rugby, and because I was in Venezuela to train with my good friends (Carlos Coste and the rest of the "gang”) there in April. There I also gave courses in underwater rugby and UW-hockey (which I used to play in Spain while I studied biology at the University in Barcelona for one year). So I simply did not have time to go to the Cyprus Open.

- An impressive list. How did you get into freediving in the first place?

Herbert and Stig not only look alike, their mentality is also similar

- I started Freediving (training) on the 13th of June, 2000 - I know this because it is my father’s birthday....and also because I keep a sports/training diary every day. I could always hold my breath for five minutes..and swim 100 meters under water without knowing techniques of freediving. I always liked doing it, so it is rather "natural" for me. I always loved water. Snorkeling in my parents pool in the backyard since a baby and doing a lot of more "real" snorkeling in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia...etc. with my brother during summer holidays as a boy (with my parents). I started freediving in my parents pool in the backyard, collecting rubber animals. A small game which I always won over my brother and a friend who is now an elite soldier in Denmark. My first international competition was in Nice (world cup 2000). I liked it so much that I formed a freediving club here in my town of Aarhus (Aarhus Freediving Club). I was also in Ibiza in 2001 and on Hawaii 2002 and went to a lot of competitions in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. (I won the 1st Dutch Open in December 2002 beating Herbert Nitsch with a full minute (My 7‘ 23 minutes was the best time ever at an international competiton).

- Nonetheless, the most prestigious category is the Dynamic with fins. Aren‘ t you preparing to break the world record in that category?

- I WILL do some long dives by the end of the year. I‘ m very happy now that my close friend and training partner Peter Pedersen now holds the great record of 200 meters. I have been very busy with my studies as a research scientist, so the time has not been there. But but i will start in my next "training session" soon. However, if you look at the last years world ranking i have been doing ok...top 5...top 3....etc.

If you want to see how Stig looks like during training, and how he reacted when he realized that he swam a world record, then click here. The photos were taken by Casper Tybjerg, and they prove that he deservedly works for National Geographic.

Latest news: Records official, Stig Danish champion again Since our interview was made (July 24th) word has been received that the three world records set in Aarhus and Randers have been approved by AIDA following the mandatory procedures. These performances now stand as official world records. The other important piece of news is that Stig defended his title as the overall Danish Freediving Champion. The competition was held on August 2nd and 3rd, 2003 on the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea. Stig did -58,8m in Constant weight, 6 min 51 sec in Static and 155m in Dynamic with fins. (Source: Danish Freediving Federation)