Astonishing First Day of Vertical Blue With 4 Freediving World Records

Today at the world’s premier freediving competition, Vertical Blue, an astounding 4 world records were set on the very first day of a 10-days-long international event.

Alexey Molchanov of Russia showed sheer strength and prowess with a clean performance to 126m in the discipline of FIM. In a dive time of four minutes and 45 seconds Molchanov planted his flag to say he wants to win the competition. “My dive felt good, but I do have other competition in this discipline and those strong contenders are here at Vertical Blue. I’m focused on also executing excellent dives across all of the disciplines.”

Quickly, thereafter the women demonstrated their excellence with back-to-back world records from Alessia Zecchini of Italy and Alenka Artnik of Slovenia. In the discipline of CWT respectively Zecchini and Artnik landed super strong performances of 115m CWT for the Italian, and then the Slovenian surged even deeper with 118m CWT. Alessia full of joy and laughter exclaimed “I really enjoyed my new world record, for the few minutes I had it!” The selfdeprecation reflected her admiration for the Slovenian athlete.

Alenka Artnik made her incredible dive to 118m in a speedy time of three minutes and 26 seconds. “Today I was very focused”, shared Alenka. “I did not sleep very much last night, and because of this I knew I needed to remain focused to execute my dive to the level I wanted to. As I began my dive, I thought of our dear friend Sayuri Kinoshita and dedicated my dive to her. My dive was for Sayuri and because of Sayuri.”

The fourth and final world record of the day came from the 25 year-old Arnauld Jerald of France, who came to #VB2021 to achieve a bi-fins WR (or two) and was ecstatic to have garnered a new WR and personal best at his first appearance in Deans Blue Hole. “I started freediving about four years ago, and in the time that I have been competing I have specifically chosen to improve in the bi-fins category. Bi-fins is my heart right now and I want to continue to go deeper before I begin my journey in Constant Weight (CWT).” Arnauld’s bi-fins dive took three minutes and 30 seconds and he was not only super fresh at the end of his dive but a bit mischievous as he mimicked a “drop of the mic” when he presented his tag to the judges as proof of his depth.

There are five more chances for every competitor at Vertical Blue to continue pushing their limits and expanding what we know to be possible in human physiology.

Alexey Molchanov Achieves
His Third World Record during Vertical Blue 2021


On the penultimate day of Vertical Blue 2021, Alexey Molchanov did it again. That is, he singlehandedly nabbed his third world record of the competition with a constant weight bi-fins dive to 118m in a dive time of four minutes and 38 seconds. What is so astonishing about this incredible achievement is not only that he went so deep and stayed so long but that after a week+ of diving that he was so fresh. Moreover, this was the third World Record garnered by Molchanov, as he set one on the very first day in FIM and again on the 4th day in CWT to 131m - each of these dives more fantastic than the next and when you add them up cumulatively in one competition it becomes simply superhuman.

“I am very happy to have been able to take the bi-fins record deeper, and to do so in the fins that bear my name,” said Alexey. “I want to fine tune some things to make the descent more streamlined, and to quicken the rate of my descent but I know what to adjust and I will.” Ever the perfectionist Molchanov is always looking for even more efficiencies in his performances.