British freedivers smash own records at Worlds

Several British men claimed records in the fourth Mediterranean World Cup and freediving World Championships.

Both competitions took place in September, with a number of the men battling it out for top spot and the ladies’ Liv Philip also performing well.

On 14 September, the final day of the Med Cup, Dave Tranfield, successfully dived to 56m in two minutes 25 seconds in the No Fins category, breaking the record by one metre.

A few days later at AIDA Depth World Championships, Dave Kent made a clean and easy dive to 62m in two minutes 20 seconds in the same category.

Mike Board, already two-times holder of the FIM title, also had great success. In the Med Cup he completed a 77m FIM dive to regain the National Record from Dave King who had set it at 73m in June at the Coupe de Calanque in France. The dive was completed in two minutes 41 seconds.

He then extended this record by a further six metres at the AIDA World Depth Championships, setting a new record in FIM of 83m in a dive time of two minutes 55 seconds.

Mike said: "It's been a fantastic month of training and dive performances for me that far exceeded my expectations. Training went well and I felt strong and confident enough to try new depths on the competition days.

“This is only my second year of competitive freediving and hopefully next year I will be able to dive deeper again and perhaps surprise myself and a few others on the way!"

Liv Philip shone for the women by taking overall Silver Medal in the women’s with CWT 61m, FIM 62m and CNF 46m.

Keep up with all the latest diving news and reviews by following Sport Diver on Facebook.