Australia's first AIDA freediving competition

Recently a new milestone was achieved in Australian freediving with the first AIDA freediving competition taking place in Sydney. The Neptune Trans Tasman Freedive Competition was held on 15/16 August at the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre. The famous wave-shaped building is normally graced by athletes such as Libby Trickett and Eamon Sullivan who are more accustomed to setting records on the surface rather than below it.

The event, run by the Australian Freediving Association partnered with local club Sydney Freedivers, was the brainchild of kiwi champion freediver Ant Williams who now resides on the other side of the pond. The judges present were Fran Rose, Walter Steyn, Erez Beatus with organiser Ben Noble also assisting. The inaugural event had a relatively intimate entry list of 13 athletes attending representing such nations as Denmark, France, Great Britain as well as New Zealand and Australia. The range of talent was spread between those that were attending their first freedive competition after only a few months of training, right through to top level international athletes including NZ's Ant Williams and multi-world record holder and 2008 ICARE "Best Male Freediver of 2008" Dave Mullins, who currently holds the world record in dynamic no-fins.

Walter Steyn at the start of his 215m Dynamic

Before the start of the competition, an exhibition record attempt was performed by Walter Steyn who successfully pushed his existing Dynamic record out to 215m. In the competition, athletes had the choice of competing in 2 events over 2 days and could choose between Static, Dynamic and Dynamic No Fins, with the winner being the athlete with the most points. As an extra incentive for those wishing to do No Fins, the point scale was adjusted by a factor of 1.3 to make it more comparable to the Dynamic and Static events.

Louise Dixon preparing for Static

Static Apnea was the first event and initial signs indicated that the hot conditions in the Centre as well as competition nerves were taking their toll. Bjorn Nielson (DEN) was the first to go and performed a very clean 4:27 breath hold in his first competition. Also competing for the first time, Australian Guy Skillen performed a static breath hold of 6:39 but unfortunately suffered a blackout at the end. The next athlete, Louise Dixon (AUS) also performed strongly with a 5:07 breath hold but needed assistance during her surface protocol and was also disqualified. Competing in his second freedive competition, Michael Cheesman (AUS) surfaced after 5 minutes 45 seconds looking fresh and completed his surface protocol in the required 15 second timeframe to get a white card.

John Pengelly completes a 172m Dynamic Dynamic With Fins was the next event, starting with NZ's Joy Cottle, who successfully completed a 62m Dynamic, showing a graceful style and looking very comfortable at the end. The next athlete was Fran Rose protégé John Pengelly, who at 18 years was our youngest competitor having only started pool training a few months earlier and very much an unknown quantity. After turning at 100m, the judges got ready for him to surface but he continued to plug away, reaching the 150m mark and almost seeming like he was about to surface before turning again to the combined inhale of those watching. After a few more kicks he finally he surfaced, completed his surface protocol and got a white card and a cheer for completing his first ever performance, a massive 172m. John will certainly be one to look out for in the future.

Michaela Droppova after a 133m Dynamic

Michaela Droppova (AUS) was probably the unluckiest competitor on the day, swimming a big distance of 133m but starting her performance too late and attracting a penalty, which meant that the dive was not recognized as a National record. It was still the longest dynamic swum by an Australian woman and there is no doubt that that Michaela is one of the strongest in the Australian female lineup. The competition had World Record status and everyone was looking towards kiwi Dave Mullins putting in a big performance, however he surfaced after"only" 200m and 4 minutes underwater, saying that he wasn't feeling right on the day. Some close to him suspect that the new beard could have been providing a little too much resistance! Great Britain's Tim Money put a large margin on his previous PB, surfacing at 145m and causing some controversy as the judges were divided on whether he had attracted a penalty upon surfacing.
Eventually after some discussion he was awarded a white card and moved himself further up the ranks of the UK's freedivers.

Tim Money performing the Surface protocol after a 145m DYN

Jasmine Bastow (AUS) followed shortly after and secured herself her first Australian record with a very strong performance of 116m, being the only competitor in bi-fins she looked hungry for more the following day.

Jasmine Bastow celebrates her first National Record

Ant Williams had been relatively quiet most of the morning, keeping under the radar until suspicions were raised when he requested to start from the deep end, citing that he wanted to finish in the shallow end. Immediately other athletes feverishly did the sums in their head, this would mean that he is doing a performance somewhere around 150m, no wait ' 250m? Showing a beautiful style and graceful turns, he went past the 200m mark and powered on, surfacing at 240m and painfully close to the world record mark. He courageously fought the hypoxia through his surface protocol but could not complete it without assistance and was disqualified.

Ant Williams prepares for a big Dynamic

The last 2 performances of the day were from Sydney Freediver members Chris Harding (AUS) and Tanguy Crusson (FRA). Chris completed a clean 136m dive whilst Tanguy powered up to a first comp PB of 150m.

Chris Harding focusing on his breathing prior to his Dynamic swim

Day 2 saw the athletes return to the poolside a lot calmer, with the experience of competitive apnea already making its mark. There were only 2 statics, with John Pengelly and Michael Cheesman both putting in good performances. Michaela Droppova was looking for a National record in No Fins but ended her performance abruptly when misjudging the end of the pool and hitting her head. After medical clearance the judges allowed a restart and although breaking the record distance with a dive of 114m, her airway dipped at the end of the performance and she was disqualified.

Formerly a competitive swimmer, Michaela shows perfect streamlined form on her DNF

Dave Mullins, although feeling better on Sunday, thought our water was more buoyant than the waters back home and struggled with his weight during his no fins dive, surfacing after 148m. Once again, we were unsure whether it was just air captured in the beard. Bjorn Nielson provided some pool-side amusement as he tried to channel the ghost of Wal Steyn by wearing a "Finding Nemo" swim cap, the same one that brought Wal his last record in NZ. Luckily he did not black out, as the Sydney Fish Market was just around the corner and the market for clownfish is good.

World record Holder Dave Mullins gliding on his No-fins Dynamic

Most of the Dynamic No Fins swims were done in two competition lanes, the next dives saw the excitement of the event peak when the two Australian ladies, Louise Dixon and Jasmine Bastow went head to head in the battle for the Dynamic No Fins Australian record. During the dive they overtook each other several times as Louise was faster in the middle of the lap, and Jasmine making time on the turns. Eventually Louise surfaced first at 89m and briefly held the Ladies National record before Jasmine surfaced at 103m and completed her surface protocol.

The remaining performances were all impressive and with the exception of two received white cards. Tanguy Crusson had a minor surface penalty on an otherwise solid 133m No Fins dive, and Chris Harding who, possibly disproving that there are no short term effects of apnea, forgot to put his neck weight on and received some surfacing penalties.
The final winners were calculated for both men and women, for the ladies in third place was Joy Cottle (64.5), second place was Michaela Droppova (65.5) and the winner with 124.95 points was Jasmine Bastow. In the men's competition third place was secured by Tim Money (153.1), second place was Tanguy Crusson (156.45) and winning the men's event was Dave Mullins with 196.2 points. Prizes were generously supplied by Neptune Australia and Suunto Australia.

Great competition, great results, safe diving and fun had by all The event was a great success and would not have been possible without the help and support of Neptune Australia, Suunto Australia, Sydney Freedivers, the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre, the Australian Freediving Association and the tribe of volunteers helping out with safety, medic duties, judging, poolside helpers and especially the athletes for being a part of history and supporting the first, and definitely not last AIDA freedive competition in Australia.

Photos by Sean Ishvara Thomas, Alex Craig, Mike Wells and Ben Noble

Men - Results

Static

Dynamic With Fins

Dynamic No Fins

Women - Results

Static

Dynamic With Fins

Dynamic No Fins