The three new world record holders

As we reported yesterday, three Skandinavian freedivers managed to break three world records last Saturday (July 19th) in the „Spanien” swimming pool in Aarhus, Denmark. All records belong the Dynamic discipline, where one needs to swim as far as the can with one breath of air.

As we reported yesterday, three Scandinavian freedivers managed to break three world records on the weekend (July 19th) in the „Spanien” swimming pool in Aarhus, Denmark. All records belong the Dynamic discipline, where one needs to swim the as long as the can with one breath of air.

One interesting fact about the new records is that none of the Scandinavian freedivers (there were two Danish guys and a Swedish girl) were „big names” amongst the freedivers. Of course, they had good personal bests, but there was no indication that they were going to exceed the existing records by 10 meters.

Moreover, the Danish kept a really low profile of their record attempts in Aarhus, so it came as a surprise to the world elit that they were beaten by underdogs. We managed to reach Peter Pedersen, the new record holder of the most prestigious category within the Dynamic discipline: the Dynamic with fins. In this category, the freedivers attach monofins to their feet to make their strokes more powerful. Consequently, they are able to swim longer distances with one breath of air than in the „without fins” version.

Herbert Nitsch in Budapest Photo: Szepesházi "Bruxi" András

This category has been dominated by the Austrian Herbert Nitsch, the Flying Fish. You may be familiar with from the interview that we made, when he was in Budapest last Fall, visiting the Hungarian freedivers. Herbert improved his world record from 181 meters to 183 meters in the Dynamic with Fins and he was planning to improve his record further step-by-step, as Sergey Bubka did in pole-vaulting.

What Herbert did not really count on was the relatively unknown Danish freediver, the 30 year of waiter from Randers, to swim 200 meters, out of the blue. We cannot stress often enough that he swam those 200 meters with one breath of air.

If you tend to believe only what you see with your own two eyes, then we have something for you, too. If you click here, you can see the video that was shown on the Danish channel, TV2.


And now, let‘s see what Peter had to stay about his record:

Peter at the 2002 Danish Championships

- First of all, Congratulations for you record. Secondly, the Danish federation ordered a news blackout in connection with the Aarhus record attempts. Other freedivers, like Herbert Nitsch or Tanja Streeter start to advertise their attempts weeks or months before it takes place, but you kept a very low profile. Was it intentional and are you planning on continuing surprising the world?

- To be honest, there isn‘t more in it than you say. I just didn‘t want the whole world to start making guesses about my performance. I like to focus on my training and to be myself. And this is the way it will always be, so if the world wants to be surprised....I‘m the man!

- I guess you would agree that you have not been amongst the best-known freedivers of the world. I know that you have been the Danish record holder since June 23rd, 2003 and you won the Danish championships with 160 meters. Nonetheless, you were not viewed as Herbert’s greatest rivals. You did not go to the Cyprus Open either.

- The reason for not going to Cyprus is simple. Finances. I don´t have a sponsor and I just bought a house...I started freediving about three years ago. I´ve met Herbert a few times and he´s a really nice guy. I hope he will be even better after this. Since I had easily done 175-185m in training in the month up to the attempt, so I was pretty confident.

- Herbert will definitely try to break you record, since you „stole” his favorite world record. He is very competitive – are you also?

Like fish in the water

- The reason why I did this attempt was that we were three [Peter, Stig Aavall Severinsen and Yamina Enedahl-Mekki] to pay all expences and share the pressure, so this opportunity was to good to let it slip away. The record itself has not really been the goal, but being sure that I could do it, I just chose to make it official. Competitive? Yes, towards myself! (and maybe a little bit towards Herbert)

- Could you tell me something about you preparation for the record attempt and about the record itself? Your record is special also because 200 meters is a psychological borderline.

- Of course the 200 m is a dreamlimit to reach, but actually the limit is what you make it. The training has been four times a week in the pool (intervals and technique mostly) a little running, yoga, light fittness and a healthy diet. You know McDonald´s, pizza and coke. No, just living a normal life without making to many sacrifices.

- Are you planning on breaking it again soon?

- First I‘ ll relax for a month, but after that with the proper training - why not?