The 28th AIDA World Championship is taking place from 18-25 June 2022 in Burgas, Bulgaria.
The complete schedule of events, start lists and results can be found here: bit.ly/3IdqnMK
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Freedivers competed in Static Apnea (STA) on the third day of the 28th AIDA World Championship.
While some freedivers may joke that STA is not the most exciting discipline, sometimes it can be quite interesting to watch. For example, in the last heat, when several of the strongest athletes were holding their breaths at the pool’s surface, everyone watching can feel that the battle for the day’s medals is at stake. However, there were no unexpected surprises - all the medals eventually went to the predicted favorites.
From the beginning, Valdemar Karlsson of Sweden showed a very strong performance of 8:58 and became the AIDA World Champion in STA. But his winning the gold medal did not become clear until the final heat.
Around the middle of the day, Ming Jin (William Joy) of China managed to hold his breath for 8:37, earning him the bronze medal. We heartily congratulate William! During the previous two competition days, William was consistently on the list of favorites, but has only managed a Championship medal in STA so far.
All the freediving fans anxiously awaited the last heat when Rami Bladlav of Sweden (the athlete with the top offical PB in STA) and French athlete Laurent De Beaucaron performed. However, Rami seemed to be affected by the stress of the Championship and completed his attempt at 7:55. With disappointment on his part, Rami decided against performing the surface protocol and received a red card.
Meanwhile, Laurent confidently held his breath for 8:41 and became the AIDA Vice-Champion in STA. This seems like Laurent’s first AIDA World Championship, making this an even more impressive achievement. Congratulations to Laurent on his extremely successful debut!
Among the women, the competition was much more predictable with all the favorites reaching noteworthy results. In the beginning of the day, Agnieszka Kalska of Poland reached 7:14, earning her the bronze medal at the end of the day. A bit later, her teammate and DNF World Record holder Julia Kozerska held her breath for 7:41, capturing the silver medal. Finally, in the last heat, French athlete Sylvie Gilson performed with full knowledge of all of her competitors’ results. Therefore, she confidently made her breath-hold last 7:49 and became the AIDA World Champion in STA. Congratulations to all of the athletes!
During these three competition days, we have seen a total of 188 performances of freedivers from all around the world. We are now at the finish line of the last competition day of the 28th AIDA World Championship. The most exciting discipline that takes athletes the furthest awaits us.
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About AIDA:
Created in 1992, the International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA) is an international freediving federation based in Switzerland. AIDA is dedicated to the development of freediving through both competition and education, and is the federation of all freediving nations, bringing together over 40 countries. AIDA has officiated over 25 freediving World Championships and more than 300 freediving world records.