Shark Freediving

Okay, that’s weird! I was looking for some information about the depth freediving world championships at the Bahamas in November this year. It isn’t even on the official AIDA calendar! I know that AIDA has some problems at the moment, but this one should really be on the calendar.

Anyway, as the competition starts in around a month, it’s time to put some facts on the table, so here we go.

• 2009 AIDA Freediving World Championships
• Location: Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island in the Bahamas
• Date: November 25 – December 5 2009
• Website: http://verticalblue.net/ (official website should become live soon)
• Disciplines: Constant Weight (CWT) / Constant Weight without fins (CNF)
• 51 Athletes, 17 female, 34 male
• 17 nations

Schedule

List of Athletes

With almost 200 registered freedivers competing during the pool freediving world championships that will take place in Denmark this month, it promises to become a big and interesting event.

Because of the combination of the AIDA and CMAS world championships, they changed the schedule (some athletes were not so happy with that because of wrong arrival dates and missing disciplines). So see below the complete schedule for the competition.

AIDA

Saturday 15/8 – 2009

12.00 – 19.00 Open training (Aarhus Swim Stadium)

Sunday 16/8 – 2009

12.00 – 14.00 Open training (Aarhus Swim Stadium)

Monday 17/8 – 2009

09.00 – 12.00 Open training (Aarhus Swim Stadium)
16.00 – 19.00 Open training (Aarhus Swim Stadium)
19.00 – 22.00 Verification1 (at Aarhus Swim Stadium)

Tuesday 18/8 – 2009

09.00 – 12.00 Training 25 meter pool(Aarhus Swim Stadium)
12.00 – 13.30 Verification (at Aarhus Swim Stadium)
14.00 – 15.00 DNF Event Committee, obligatory for national selectors!
DNF qual. performance announcements (at Aarhus Swim Stadium)
15.15 – 15.45 AIDA opening Ceremony
16.00 – 19.00 Freewc09 opening Ceremony at the Mayors reception.

Wednesday 19/8 – 2009

08.00 – 10.00 Open training 50 meter pool
10.15 – 12.00 Open training 25 meter pool
13.00 – 13.30 STA qual. announcement deadline (at the pool info desk)
14.15 – 15.00 First DNF warm-up
15.00 – 18.45 DNF qualification heats
19.00 – 19.30 DNF finals performance announcement
deadline (at the pool info desk)
National selectors only!
19.30 – 20.30 STA Event Committee
(competitor meeting room)
Obligatory for national selectors!

Thursday 20/8 – 2009

08.15 – 09.00 First STA warm-up
09.00 – 12.20 STA qualification heats
12.30 – 13.00 DYN qual. & STA finals performance announcement deadline
(at the pool info desk)
National selectors only!
13.00 – 14.30 Open training 25 meter pool
14.45 – 16.30 Open training 50 meter pool
17.15 – 18.00 First DNF finals warm-up
18.00 – 18.15 DNF B final heat (women)
18.15 – 18.30 DNF B final heat (men)
18.45 – 19.00 DNF A final heat (women)
19.00 – 19.15 DNF A final heat (men)
20.00 – 21.00 DYN Event Commitee
(competitor meeting room at the pool)
Obligatory for national selectors!

Friday 21/8 – 2009

08.15 – 09.00 First STA final heats warm-up
09.00 – 09.20 STA B final heat (women)
09.20 – 09.40 STA B final heat (men)
10.00 – 10.20 STA A final heat (women)
10.20 – 10.40 STA A final heat (men)
11.00 – 16.00 Pause
16.15 – 17.00 First DYN warm-up
17.00 – 19.30 DYN qualification heats
20.00 – 20.30 DYN finals performance announcement deadline (at the pool info desk) National selectors only!
20.30 – 21.00 DYN finals Event Committee
Obligatory for 16 best competitors or their representatives!

Saturday 22/8 – 2009

07.00 – 09.00 Open training 50 meter pool – 16 best competitors only!
14.00 – 15.15 Training – 16 best competitors only!
15.15 – 16.00 First DYN finals warm-up
16.00 – 16.15 DYN B final heat (women)
16.15 – 16.30 DYN B final heat (men)
16.45 – 17.00 DYN A final heat (women)
17.00 – 17.15 DYN A final heat (men)
19.30 – 20.15 Award giving ceremony
20.45 Farewell Dinner, disco and
Team Static ind the 5 meter jump pool.

CMAS

Saturday 15/8 – 2009

12.00 – 19.00 Open training (Aarhus Swim Stadium)

Sunday 16/8 – 2009

12.00 – 14.00 Open training (Aarhus Swim Stadium)

Monday 17/8 – 2009

09.00 – 12.00 Open training (Aarhus Swim Stadium)
16.00 – 19.00 Open training (Aarhus Swim Stadium)

Tuesday 18/8 – 2009

09.00 – 12.00 Free traning 25 meter pool (Aarhus Swim Stadium)
12.15 – 15.00 Free traning 50 meter pool (Aarhus Swim Stadium)
09.00 – 15.00 Judge assistants tranining.
15.15 – 15.45 CMAS opening Ceremony
16.00 – 19.00 Freewc09 opening Ceremony at the Mayors reception.
20.00 – 21.00 Verification (at Aarhus Swim Stadium)

Wednesday 19/8 – 2009

08.00 – 11.00 Open training 25 meter pool
10.00 – 12.00 Open training 50 meter pool
09:00 – 15:45 Free traning 25 meter pool.
16.00 – 18.30 Captains/Technical meeting an Verification (at Aarhus Swim Stadium)

Thursday 20/8 – 2009

09:15 – 14.30 Free traning 25 meter pool.
14.45 – 16.30 Open training 50 meter pool

Friday 21/8 – 2009

08:15 to 11.00 Free traning 25 meter pool.
11.00 – 15.30 CMAS DYN qualification heat in 50 meter pool.
17.00 – 18.30 Captains/Technical meeting.

Saturday 22/8 – 2009

08.30 – 13.45 CMAS DYN finals and Award giving ceremony
19.30 – 20.15 Freewc award giving ceremony
20.45 Farewell Dinner, disco and
Team Static ind the 5 meter jump pool.

Finally official word is out that the next pool world championships in Denmark will be a combined AIDA and CMAS freediving world championship. Below is the official news.

Freewc09.dk will be an event that houses two world championships. Both CMAS and AIDA will carry out their individual pool world championships at the event. Practically this means that AIDA and CMAS athletes will be competing by the rules stipulated by each organization at the same event, but not at the same time.

The website for AIDA is still www.freewc09.dk

The website for CMAS is www.freewc09.dk/cmas.html

We are very pleased that both organizations have chosen to go ahead with this shared arrangement and are happy to be able to provide the setting for at joint freediving event.

The schedule has been changed and DYN and DNF has switched places. The updated schedule is on the website.

Please remember to book hard floor accommodation at the gym. There is a limit of 100 people, who can stay here. Register on the website.

Getting around in Aarhus is easy with public transportation. For those staying in the centre of the city another good option is to rent a bike. Aarhus is a small enough city to get around in by bike, and it is easy and affordable to rent bikes at www.bikes4rent.dk. It may be a good idea to book bikes ahead of the event, as we are still in the holiday season in August.

The first information about the depth world championships for 2009 are beginning to come out and the wild-cards are also known. It will be interesting to see which athletes are going to attend this competition which will take place in Dean’s blue hole, Bahamas, from November 25 till December 5. Below a first email and the wild-cards for this competition.

Information regarding the AIDA depth World Championships to be held in Dean’s Blue Hole, Bahamas from November 25 – December 5, 2009.

All AIDA National Associations have been sent a pdf file containing the information required for registration of the athletes selected for this event.

For athletes from countries where there is no national AIDA, you need to contact AIDA International at info@aida-international.org. If no one else from your country applies for your discipline then you will qualify automatically, otherwise AIDA will arrange a selection method with the other candidates from your country.

Once you have qualified and sent the entry fee, the organisers will send you information regarding booking accommodation, travel advice, and how to complete your registration.

If you believe you should have qualified then you need to contact your National AIDA. Qualification is as follows:

- Each country may send one athlete per sex per discipline.

- If this first athlete is equal to or better than the minima (see below), the country can send one more athlete.

- In addition, the top ten athletes from the 2008 AIDA Ranking list qualify automatically as wild cards, and do not count in the above process.

NB if an athlete qualifies for one discipline they will not be able to compete in the other discipline unless they have qualified for that also.

The minima are:

women: CNF 30m, CWT 55m

men: CNF 40m, CWT 75m

(must have been performed in an official AIDA competition with ranking after the 27th of November 2007).

Information regarding the AIDA depth World Championships to be held in Dean’s Blue Hole, Bahamas from November 25 – December 5, 2009.

All AIDA National Associations have been sent a pdf file containing the information required for registration of the athletes selected for this event.

For athletes from countries where there is no national AIDA, you need to contact AIDA International at info@aida-international.org. If no one else from your country applies for your discipline then you will qualify automatically, otherwise AIDA will arrange a selection method with the other candidates from your country.

Once you have qualified and sent the entry fee, the organisers will send you information regarding booking accommodation, travel advice, and how to complete your registration.

If you believe you should have qualified then you need to contact your National AIDA. Qualification is as follows:

• Each country may send one athlete per sex per discipline.
• If this first athlete is equal to or better than the minima (see below), the country can send one more athlete.
• In addition, the top ten athletes from the 2008 AIDA Ranking list qualify automatically as wild cards, and do not count in the above process.

NB if an athlete qualifies for one discipline they will not be able to compete in the other discipline unless they have qualified for that also.

The minima are:

• women: CNF 30m, CWT 55m
• men: CNF 40m, CWT 75m

(must have been performed in an official AIDA competition with ranking after the 27th of November 2007).

Wild cards are:

Nicola Roderick

CNF WOMEN:

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• AVSEENKO Natalia RUS
• RODERICK Nicola NZL
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• FABRIO Karla CRO
• KITAHAMA Junko JPN
• WOLFER Bettina SUI
• LIVBJERG Maria DEN
• VON BOETTICHER Anna GER
• PHILIP Olivia K. GBR

Last depth: 40m
CNF MEN:

• TRUBRIDGE William NZL
• MALDAMÉ Christian FRA
• GIANKOS Manolis GRE
• KING Robert USA
• JAKOVAC Domagoj CRO
• ZBYNEK Josef CZE
• ERNEST Christian SWE
• LARSSON Anders SWE
• VRDOLJAK Tomo CRO
• JÖRGENSEN Mads Becker DEN
• TURRENT Luis MEX

Last depth: 45m (2 athletes)

Julie Gautier

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• CRUICKSHANK Mandy-Rae CAN
• SLOVENCÍKOVÁ Jarmila CZE
• GAUTIER Julie FRA
• SCHRAPPE Carolina BRA
• HIRAI Misuzu JPN
• SOLOMONS Maria Teresa GBR
• AVSEENKO Natalia RUS
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• WILSON Jessica USA

Last depth: 65m

CWT MEN:

• MULLINS David NZL
• SHINOMIYA Ryuzo JPN
• MOLCHANOV Alexey RUS
• GIANKOS Manolis GRE
• STEPANEK Martin CZE
• NÉRY Guillaume FRA
• MANA Federico ITA
• MALDAMÉ Christian FRA
• DAHLSTRÖM Johan SWE
• CHATZIASLAN Dimitris GRE

Last depth: 85m

AIDA Sweden has also announced their national team that will go to the Pool Freediving World Championships. There are competitors who are directly qualified, and competitors who are at the top of the ranking. This combined, they will send 3 competitors per discipline per sex. You can find the list of the strong Swedish competitors below. As soon as the final team is announced, I’ll let you know.

MEN

Ulf Dextegen

Static

• Q: Ulf Dextegen 2: ai World 2008
• Q: Weiner Gustavsson 8: ai World 2008
• 1. Peter Boivie 7.35
• 2. Johan Dahlström 7.04
• 3. Per Westin 6.59
• 4. Tomas Schiffer 6.38
• 5. Christian Ernest 6.37

Dynamic with fins

• Q: Martin Wikström 10: ai World 2008
• 1. Per Westin 202m
• 2. Weiner Gustavsson 198m
• 3. Ulf Dextegen 165m
• 4. Jens Schou 165m
• 5. Tobias Nilsson 164M

Dynamic without fins

• Q: Anders Larsson 9: ai World 2008
• 1. Christian Ernest 129m
• 2. Ulf Lindberg 129m
• 3. Jens Schou 125m
• 4. Rikard Larsson 125m
• 5. Johan Isaksson 118m

WOMEN

Lotta Ericson

Static

• Q: Lotta Ericson 8: ai World
• 1. Klara hansson 5.06
• 2. Annelie Pompe 4.33
• 3. Sofia Tapani 4.32
• 4. Yamina Enedahl-Meki 4.21
• 5. Emma Nordin 4.19

Dynamic with fins

• 1. Lotta Ericson 130m
• 2. Annelie Pompe 130m
• 3. Yamina Enedahl-Meki 129m
• 4. Klara Hansson 116m
• 5. Emma Nordin 105m

Dynamic without fins

• Q: Yamina 7a of the World 2008
• 1. Sofia Tapani 114m
• 2. Klara Hansson 100m
• (3. Yamina Enedahl-Meki 91m)
• 3. Emma Nordin 57m
• 4. Fanny Schagatay 49m

The athletes will be asked in ranking order about their participation. Sweden may send a total of 5 men for static, 4 in dynamic with fins and 4 without fins. With the women the may send 4 for static, 3 for dynamic with fins and 4 dynamic without fins.

(Thanks to Eric van Riet Paap for the link!)

It has come to my attention that the Pool Freediving world championships, that take place from august 15 until 22 in Denmark, will not only be organized under the flag of AIDA, but also by CMAS!

While I couldn’t find any official explanation by AIDA about this, it seems that CMAS approached AIDA after the cancelling of the CMAS world championships in Tunisia. They asked if they could come to Denmark as well and it seems that a deal was made.

The story is being cleared by people with high positions at AIDA and FFESSM. Wonder when we hear something official about this, because it’s pretty big news.

More and more information is coming in from different countries publishing their national selections for the two world championships this year in Denmark (Pool) and the Bahamas (Depth). Below are already some announcements for the Pool Championships in Denmark.

AIDA Germany has announced the following people as the official German Team:

• Women: Barbara Jeschke, Ilka Michaelis, Anna v. Boetticher and Olga Martinez-Alvarez
• Men: Martin Legat, Ulli Wulf and Sergio Martinez-Alvare

AIDA Canada is also on their way for selecting the pool championship team. It’s still small and has open spots:

• Women: Jana Strain, Mandy-Rae Krack
• Men: William Winram

If you know of any more announcements, let me know! I will publish them here.

As the AIDA rules say, the 10 best ranking freedivers per discipline and sex from the 2008 ranking receive a wildcard for the 2009 World Freediving Championships. It seems that AIDA has finished its 2008 ranking, because I just received the complete list of wildcards that will be given away.

Pretty impressive top10 performances I must say. Still missing some big names like Herbert Nitsch and Sara Campbell. But apperantly they did their performances in non ranking or record attempts. Also glad to see some Dutch freedivers in this impressive list! Congratulations to Nanja and Eric!

Natalia Molchanova

STA WOMEN:

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• MEYER Karoline Mariechen BRA
• WILSON Jessica USA
• EDWARDS Annabel USA
• HIRAI Misuzu JPN
• ROLLERO Claudio SUI
• ERICSON Lotta SWE
• CRUICKSHANK Mandy-Rae CAN
• VAN DER BROEK Nanja NED

Last time: 5:43

STA MEN:

• 

  Kathryn Mcphee and Guy Brew

  BREW Guy NZL

• DEXTEGEN Ulf SWE
• MULLINS David NZL
• SEVERINSEN Stig Åvall DEN
• KINNUNEN Timo FIN
• VAN RIET PAAP Eric NED
• CHATZIASLAN Dimitris GRE
• GUSTAVSSON Weine SWE
• MOLCHANOV Alexey RUS
• PÖNTINEN Mikko FIN

Last time: 7:31

Karla Fabrio

DYN WOMEN:

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• FABRIO Karla CRO
• JOHNSEN Eva DEN
• KRISTOFFERSEN Elisabeth Sveen NOR
• MATSUMOTO Megumi JPN
• LIVBJERG Maria DEN
• ROLLERO Claudio SUI
• HIRAI Misuzu JPN
• JÖRGENSEN Josephine DEN

Last distance: 150m with announced 119m

DYN MEN:

• 

  Alexey Molchanov

  MOLCHANOV Alexey RUS

• MULLINS David NZL
• WILLIAMS Anthony NZL
• LARSEN Henning DEN
• SEVERINSEN Stig Åvall DEN
• STEYN Walter AUS
• WINRAM William CAN
• GIANKOS Manolis GRE
• PÖNTINEN Mikko FIN
• WIKSTRÖM Martin SWE

Last distance: 201m with announced 165m

DNF WOMEN:

Nanja van den Broek

• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• SLOVENCÍKOVÁ Jarmila CZE
• LIJIC Lidija CRO PRINSLOO Hanli RSA
• MATSUMOTO Megumi JPN
• KRISTOFFERSEN Elisabeth Sveen NOR
• ENEDAHL-MEKKI Yamina SWE
• NORDBLAD Johanna FIN
• VAN DER BROEK Nanja NED

Last distance: 106m

DNF MEN:

Eric van Riet Paap

• MULLINS David NZL
• STEYN Walter AUS
• PÖNTINEN Mikko FIN
• WINRAM William CAN
• THOMPSON Marcus NZL
• VAN RIET PAAP Eric NED
• NYGARD Bjarte NOR
• LARSSON Anders SWE
• SEVERINSEN Stig Åvall DEN
• COLAK Goran CRO

Last distance: 149m

Natalia Avseenko

CNF WOMEN:

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• AVSEENKO Natalia RUS
• RODERICK Nicola NZL
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• FABRIO Karla CRO
• KITAHAMA Junko JPN
• WOLFER Bettina SUI
• LIVBJERG Maria DEN
• VON BOETTICHER Anna GER
• PHILIP Olivia K. GBR

Last depth: 40m

William Trubridge

CNF MEN:

• TRUBRIDGE William NZL
• MALDAMÉ Christian FRA
• GIANKOS Manolis GRE
• KING Robert USA
• JAKOVAC Domagoj CRO
• ZBYNEK Josef CZE
• ERNEST Christian SWE
• LARSSON Anders SWE
• VRDOLJAK Tomo CRO
• JÖRGENSEN Mads Becker DEN
• TURRENT Luis MEX

Last depth: 45m (2 athletes)

Mandy-Rae Krack

CWT WOMAN:

• MOLCHANOVA Natalia RUS
• CRUICKSHANK Mandy-Rae CAN
• SLOVENCÍKOVÁ Jarmila CZE
• GAUTIER Julie FRA
• SCHRAPPE Carolina BRA
• HIRAI Misuzu JPN
• SOLOMONS Maria Teresa GBR
• AVSEENKO Natalia RUS
• MCPHEE Kathryn NZL
• WILSON Jessica USA

Last depth: 65m

CWT MEN:

• 

  Dave Mullins

  MULLINS David NZL

• SHINOMIYA Ryuzo JPN
• MOLCHANOV Alexey RUS
• GIANKOS Manolis GRE
• STEPANEK Martin CZE
• NÉRY Guillaume FRA
• MANA Federico ITA
• MALDAMÉ Christian FRA
• DAHLSTRÖM Johan SWE
• CHATZIASLAN Dimitris GRE

Last depth: 85m

Only 17 days to go before we see this years individual depth world championships in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The important news is, that there is no news at all! If you take a look at the website, you can see it still looks the same as when it was first brought online on May 26th of this year. So I have no idea how many people have inscribed. Who is coming, who isn’t? How many countries will be represented, etc.

Many people are getting very nervous about what’s going on and there is even already talk of people canceling their inscription. I guess last years team world championships disaster, which was also hosted in Egypt, is still fresh in the memory of many people. Difference between these two competitions is that Apnea Academy Egypt has an excellent reputation regarding organizing skills. And of course AIDA International is keeping a very close look at what is going on to prevent something like last year will ever happen again…

In the mean time I just hope that all the energy that is not put in communicating is put in organizing. We will see in 17 days…

I received the following letter from AIDA International in my mailbox. It’s still very quiet about the Sharm World Championships, but maybe the buzz will start somewhat late, as usual.

The tragic death of Dimitris Vassilakis (on September 8th) has us facing a problem concerning the World Championships in Sharm el Sheikh. Dimitris was elected in 1st place and Nicholas Laporte was elected in 3rd place but will not be able to attend. This leaves us without an experienced A judge at a World Championship which is not a preferable situation.

To solve this situation Bill Strömberg has offered to be judge instead of athlete at the Worlds and the AIDA Executive Board has accepted this offer in order to support the attending judges with his experience.

In order make sure the most important event of the year, our Worlds run smooth we felt obliged to take this decision and hope our members support our decision to make these Worlds a successful competition.

These are the judges for WC in Sharm:

Bill Strömberg SWE
Gabriela Contreras VEN
Jonas Anderssson SWE
Mouna Ghossoub LIB
Melita Adany CRO