Freediving: Arnaud Jerald crowned world champion!
10/2021
Kas, Turkey, October 9, 2021 - This Saturday, October 9, Arnaud Jerald won the world title in Kas, Turkish waters, during the Open Water Freediving World Championships. The young freediver is wearing the colors of Provepharm Life Solutions.
He took the start of the competition quite serene this morning since his main opponent, the Russian Alexey Molchanov, was disqualified yesterday during a no-fins dive thus prohibiting him from diving today. As a result, during last night's announcements, he relied on a "safe" depth of 116 m, which he has done several times in training, taking into account the increasingly stressful conditions in competition, as well as the water conditions of the day.
At 9:20 a.m. local time, he descended to a depth of 116 meters with the help of his fins, 2 meters less than the absolute world record for the discipline.
After 1 minute and 34 seconds, Arnaud reached the depth of -116m, followed by an underwater drone that was broadcasting the competition live. He came back up with a perfect swimming technique, then realized his surface protocol in 5 seconds, in front of the judges who gave him the white card, synonymous with a validated dive. The freedive lasted 3 minutes and 18 seconds in total.
Already author of 4 world records in the discipline, including 2 records last July in the Bahamas during the prestigious Vertical Blue (-116 m and -117 m), this is the first world champion title for Arnaud Jerald, who continues to impress by his extraordinary progression and his regularity at this level of competition. This performance in bi-palms took place on the last day of the world championships.
During this 2021 season Arnaud covered 12,507 m (or more than 12 km) in apnea, wearing his fins, which represents 93 dives in total.