William Turbridge Breaks Breaks Freediving Record

At 11:20 a.m. on Friday, April 10 in Dean’s Blue Hole, Bahamas, New Zealand freediver William Trubridge broke the world record in unassisted freediving, descending 88m (288 ft) and returning to the surface on a single breath of air without the use of any weight or propulsive assistance.

The dive took place as part of “Vertical Blue 2009,” an invitational freediving event where the world’s elite freedivers compete over nine days. Already in the competition three world records had been broken by Britain’s Sara Campbell and Austrian Herbert Nitsch, but this was the first to be set by a New Zealander in the event.

William Trubridge has been training as a freediver for the last six years, and in April 2007 set his first world record in this discipline with a dive to 82m. Later in the year the record was broken with an 83m by Herbert Nitsch, but William bettered it again in 2008 with 86m. Herbert attempted the record on the sixth day of this event, but turned early at 71m. William also attempted 88m on the 4th day of the event, and although he made the depth and returned to the surface he blacked out as he took his first breath, and was thus disqualified.

William admits there was a lot of anticipation and anxiety when he entered the water for another attempt at the record, but he managed to remain calm and finished the dive in three minutes and 30 seconds, returning to the surface completely lucid. William said this result is the product of years of intensive training, and the support of his sponsors Suunto, Extreme Drinks, and Orca, and a generous scholarship from AMP.