Wow, what an amazing competition. Everything was wonderful, the camaraderie, the organization, the steady flow of healthy and yummy food, multiple national and world records being set, laughter, CMAS, friends, and the after party. Of course there is also my personal achievement of setting a new Pan American record in dynamic at 181M, but to share in that with me was the legend Carlos Costa from Venezuela setting a new Pan American record in dynamic with a swim to 215M.



There were many swims with honorable mentions, to start Suzy Osler from New Zealand, she was the second woman in the world to swim 200M with a fin, taking a silver medal in the final. There were so many men who swam over 200M that I lost count. Maria Livbjerg from Denmark had a very easy swim in no fins to 147M also taking a silver medal. Natalia Molchanova from Russia made a clean sweep of gold medals in all disciplines, setting two new world records in the process. Kathryn McPhee also placed in all three categories, taking home silver in static and bronze in both dynamic disciplines. Jessica Wilson from the US took home bronze in static.
Guy Brew, who is also a Kiwi, took home two Gold medals in static and dynamic. This was Guy’s first international competition and I think we could all take a lesson in handling nerves from him. Bijarte Nygard from Norway took gold for the men in dynamic no fins with a swim to 199M, very far ahead of the rest of the pack, followed by Martin Petrisko from Czech Republic at 182M and Mikko Pontinen from Finland at 181M. All of these men fought hard on the surface and pulled through to get white cards, William Trubridge finishing a close 4th at 174M. The dynamic final for the men was an exciting race from the qualifying heats to finishing final. The top three athletes in this category were all over 219M. Frederic Sessa from France led the pack with a strong fast swim to 228M, he was turining at 150M when the rest of the pack was approaching the 100M turn, this performance got him a silver medal, followed by Katsuya Hamazaki from Japan @ 219M, Weine Gutavsson from Sweden finishing fourth with a strong performance. The men’s static category finished much as predicted with Alexey Molchanov taking silver and Ulf Dextegen from Sweden taking Bronze.
Amongst all of the excitement from the medalist there were so many more personal glories being celebrated all over the pool, from personal best to records. Maria Hovden from Norway a new diver ended up placing 3rd in the woman’s B final in static with a personal best hold of 5:22. This could mean that next year we will see a strong Norwegian woman’s team with Maria and Elizabeth Kristoffersen. Elizabeth had a great competition going well over 20M beyond anything she has done in training in the dynamic final, finishing in fourth place. Georgina Miller from the UK set a new static record in the qualifying heats. Lotta Erikson from Sweden had a strong competition making the finals in static and dynamic. My favorite up and coming freediver, Nanna Krutamann adding 60M to her personal best in Dynamic, putting her in the ranking for the top 16 women in the world in this discipline.
There were also disappointments such as athletes finishing a strong performance but doing the surface protocol to the wrong side of the pool and the red cards that so many athletes saw. Red cards were common at this championships which could have been for many reasons, nerves, athletes pushing beyond their personal limits, athletes not used to surfacing on a lane rope, fatigue, tougher judging, the list can go on and on.
Something new and wonderful that happened this year, Sebastian Naslund from Sweden was the official announcer. For all events he introduced the athletes, talked about the sport, specific performances, competition favorites and more, thus turning our sport, which to the uneducated spectator is hard to watch or understand, and making it entertaining. Personally I think it would be lovely if we were to have an announcer at every freediving competition, if we did maybe we would start to have a bigger audience, and a greater global acceptance of the activity many of us spend most of our free time doing.
Another aspect of the competition that I appreciated was the Russians beautiful helper Katerina. I first noticed her at the parade through town, dressed like a Russian doll marching through the streets in 6” heels. Then every day she was at the pool with Natalia and Alexey. Katerina would be in full make up, looking nice in shiny clothing, helping get them ready for their performances and the best part carrying their gear in heels. Again I am thinking about the growth of Freediving as a whole here, if we all had a beautiful blonde helper, it may bring more spectators, so be on the lookout. ☺
I must say a special thank you to my brother Jordan Strain for coming with me to the pool and being my coach and safety in the early mornings at 7am. To Kerian Hibbs for watching over me, being my coach on the lines, giving me kind words of encouragement and tips to take home and work with. And finally to Darrell Cottle who came to the Championships with Kerian as a guest and made all of my flat mates lives easier. Darrell carried gear and weights on the journey to and from the pool.
The end of world championships finishes with a fantastic party. After all of the healthy living, restricted diets, bed times, and other restraints that most freedivers put on before a competition, we are ready to blow off some steam. We meet each other on the dance floor and inevitably many us end up in the pool, in Aarhus many freedivers made their way up to the 10M platform for a midnight jump into the blue.
Personally I saw two red cards and one white card at this event, despite the ratio I am not disappointed. I know that I went to the competition and I did my best, representing my country and proving to be amongst the top female athletes in the world. Whether my body, my brain or my breath hold was the problem with my performances I am not sure, now I have some time to figure it out my personal lessons.
As most of you know I am a fairly new diver and I’m still working out things in training. At the competition I learned that I still have a long way to go. I am excited to get back home where I will try some new methods in training and I can focus on my journey into myself through freediving. Freediving is hard work, it takes dedication, “the ability to endure suffering” as Grant Graves always says, an open mind, belief in yourself to achieve what seems impossible in the beginning, freedom and much more.
The beautiful thing is that when you ask a many professional athletes what Freediving is for them, and how they train, you will likely get many different answers. Some athletes train targets, some train none at all, doing maxes only in competition. The bottom line when you speak to any top athlete is THEY TRAIN, and they train hard. If you want to be one of the top divers in the world, it is within your reach, just get wet and train.