New World Record in Freediving Under the Ice

Freediving takes many different forms, from advanced snorkeling to spearfishing to competition. Competitive freedivers compete in many disciplines all over the world, pushing the limits of the human body year after year.

We are excited to learn about Valentina Cafolla's new record, and as photographers, love seeing the vibrant images created by Predrag Vuckovic to document the feat. Enjoy!

PRESS RELEASE

via Subal Underwater Housings 

New World record in free diving under the ice

There are two different types of free diving – the better-known free diving for depth and the lesser known free diving for distance. But in both disciplines the divers use just one breath to get as far as possible.

Croatia’s Valentina Cafolla, 19, set a new world record for distance on Sunday to 125 meters beneath a sheet of ice up to 70 centimeters thick on the Lago Di Anterselva Lake in the Italian Alps – beating the previous world record held by Turkey’s Denya Can. Cafolla accomplished the feat on the second and final attempt after aborting her first attempt.

“I didn’t get the perfect breath before the start and started to panic a bit so I had to abort it after 75 meters,” the new world record holder said after making it the full 125 meters on her second attempt. It took her exactly 1 minute and 27 seconds. When she surfaced Cafolla struggled to stay conscious and thus fulfill the resurfacing requirement protocol of the world association. “I’m really happy that all the intensive preparation paid off,” said the Italian-Croatian dual citizen. “I’m also happy that I’ll be able to dive into warmer water next time.”

For all images during this project was responsible Subal ambassador and World known Extreme sports photographer Predrag Vuckovic. He used Nikon D5 in the Subal housing ND5 with Nikon lenses 16mm fisheye and 16-35mm. Water was clear but really cold (2C)! The biggest issue to capture this was low light underwater because of 50 cm thickness of ice and a large quantity of snow on the surface, but the good thing was the sunny and bright day. The final results of the pictures are really amazing!

A day earlier, 32 year old Arthur Guerin-Boeri of France also set a new world record – 175 meters under the ice at the Sonnanen See in Finland.