Last week, AIDA International published a list of "Wild Card" bids for the World Championships in 2015 - separated into depth and pool disciplines. The ten best athletes of every discipline in the world were granted a place on this list.

My name was also among the athletes granted a "wild card" in two of the pool disciplines: the DNF (dynamic apnea without fins) , DYN (dynamic apnea with fins) and one depth discipline, th FIM (free immersion). This means I don't have to go through qualifications for the World Championship events, which leaves more time for training. The funny part is, I got a worse result in DYN with the monofin than without it! I need to work on it! :) You can download the whole list from the AIDA International Facebook group as a .pdf file. 

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A short while ago, I was interviewed by Camilla from freedivinguae.com and we spoke about the attitude towards training, setting goals, persistence and the freediving lifestyle. The audio quality is not the best, but there is also a short text included about the main topics of the interview. You can listen to the interview on the freedivinguae.com website.

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The picture you see at the top of this post was taken by Daan Verhoeven, a great photographer and my dear friend. During my stay in Bahamas at the Vertical Blue championships we dived together and he took these amazing underwater pictures. I encourage you to make a short break, sit back and take a look at his creations - you can find the pictures in the exclusive Gallery here. 

Last modified on Wednesday, 25 February 2015

It was a great time for me, because I could meet my Polish freeediving friends, with whom I didn't compete for a long time.

What was specifically interesting in this International Silesia Freediving Cup was that every team that wanted to compete for the Grand Prize had to include at least one female competitor! A brilliant idea to encourage women to join the contest and encourage them to try freediving.

I was going there to mainly spend a nice time with friends and not to actually compete. This way, I managed to do same easy dives with DNF: 175m, STA: 6:59, DYN: 150m.

Actually, I put on my monofin for the first time in a really long time, so it was certainly funny to watch my dive! I was moving like a drunk person! 

At the winners decoration I was surprised by the Polish AIDA representatives, who awarded me with a honourable reward for being the first Polish World Record holder in DNF! This was an extremely pleasant moment for me.

After the Cup in Rybnik, I have now some time to relax and decompress before starting my new training plan in January.

I was invited to do some interviews in the Polish radio and television and will share the recordings with you soon!

During my stay in the Bahamas I also sat down with Chris from FreediveEarth and we had a very nice chat. It was a fabulous opportunity to be interviewed in-depth by someone who can relate to the hardships of the freediving journey. You can read the interview on the FreediveEarth website.

Last modified on Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Yesterday was the first day of the Vertical Blue 2014 Competition that is being held in one of the best freediving locations in the world (my personal #2 spot in the world) - the Dean's Blue Hole, Long Island.

My first announced depth was 113m, which was also a Polish National Record attempt and I accomplished this goal! The official gauge actually measured 114,5m! 

I had the pleasure of working with FIM champ Miguel Lozano, who coached me during this dive, so obviously it was a great dive!

Today will be my second attempt with announced depth 118m! Let's go!

Last modified on Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Everything has started last year after Belgrade. Everything happens for a reason! My motivation and will is unbreakable. As many times as I fail as many times I will stand up and face the challenge! On Sunday I’ve finally reached my goal. I can’t express how happy I am. I know that nothing lasts forever and someday someone will break that record...However it’s very important to me mentally, because for me it confirms that my methods of training, approach, knowledge, are all heading into the right direction.

After reaching middle point of 213m in June I decided to give it another go by the end of the year. On July 22nd, I’ve emailed Roman Ondruj saying “Let’s do it”. I can’t express how thankful I am to him for taking care of the organization and believing in me. Same goes to my general sponsor Grena LTD, because without their support it would be much, much harder or even impossible for me to afford all the training and trips. Training facility provided to me by 35 Wojskowy Oddział Gospodarczy also played a big role here.

Now back to the dive,

On Saturday morning, it was my first attempt and I’ve given up at 175m. The dive felt really good and I enjoyed it, but I couldn’t find motivation to push (I think it was just too easy up to 175), I was focusing on distance/goal too much (instead of just trying to do my best), it overwhelmed me and I gave up. On Sunday it was a similar dive, same thoughts and doubts but at 175m I thought that all the hard work will go to nothing, I will regret it like in Belgrade last year. Dealing with those thoughts got me to 200m, I’ve turned and then I knew that I will just swim to the next wall and turn.

When I look at it, there is so many things I can improve (technique, buoyancy, turns), but my problem was mental, not physical thus I was not worrying about it too much, there will be the time when it will be efficient to deal with it.

Most important part is, that this point used to be the wall, but not anymore, limits got moved once again in my head and I really look forward to improve in future!

P.S. on the video You can see me happy two times. Before receiving white card and after it…The part before judge decision is more internal. I was being happy from overcoming my own barriers and challenges (it didn’t matter what will be the verdict cause I was feeling already like a winner inside)… and being happy after receiving white card was being happy from breaking the World Record…So it’s like 2 separate records for me :)

Dive safe and enjoy the blue!

The Dive on youtube!

 

 

 

 

Last modified on Wednesday, 12 November 2014

Flash NEWS!

During Brno Freediving Competition I have just reached 226m in DNF which is a new WORLD RECORD!! 

Thanks Grena LTD and all other people for the support!

Roman Ondruj for organising this event!

More news and info once I get back home :)

Last modified on Wednesday, 25 February 2015