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

Just at the end of 2014, I had an intense competition schedule.

First there was the 2nd World University Championships in Almaty, Kazachstan, held from the 18 - 21 December 2014.

This wasn't my first time there, because I've already been taking part in the World Cup competitions in Alma Ata a few years ago. I knew what to expect and was happy to see that the organization of this event was perfectly excecuted!

This event was an university championship, a kind of event which I really like, because there's always a different kind of atmosphere than at the usual World Cup competitions. I enjoy the feeling when there's less stress and less tension among the competitors.

During the four days of the Championship I had a start scheduled for every day - this was the first time in my carrier that I had so many starts one day after the other!

The first day was team pursuit day - 8 circuits - and we won! This gave me a lot of motivation for the next days.

On the second day of the competition I started in the 5000m race - my favorite distance. Unfortunately I missed by 0.4 second the podium and placed 4th.

Next day was the 10.000m start, when I decided I will totally give my all - and I won! My time was 14:33.52.

The 4th day was a Mass Start of 16 circuits, where I was leading up to the 4 last circuits, but the pursuit team was working together very well and the moment I weakened a bit they got me, so I placed 7th.

Still, two golden medals (one team medal, one individual) had really boosted my motivation and confidence in my future plans.

It was great to meet speed skating university students from all over the world, the charisma and positive energy of the people here were really what I needed.

The last competition of 2014 was being held in Warsaw, Poland on an open-air ice track and it was the Warsaw Single Distances Championship, which was also the qualifications for the European Championship in Chelyabinsk, Russia.

This competition lasted for 3 days and I was starting four times. On the shorter distances of 500m and 3000m I placed 4th and on the longer 5000m distance I got 2nd place! I also took part in both of the 500m sprints and placed 13th.

Even though I did really great in this Championship, it was a bitter-sweet experience. I actually qualified for the European Championship, but because my Association didn't complete the required formalities, I couldn't take part in the competition.

Either way, December was really great for me, thanks to the training I've been doing with the Czech speed skaters during my stay in Holland. I'd also like to say that if it wasn't for the help I've recieved from my general sponsor Grena Ltd. in 2014 I'd probably not be there and couldn't train and win those championships. I'm really grateful for the support!

I'm looking forward to 2015 and new opportunities! My plans are still unfolding, but I will soon let you know what will be going on with me in 2015! 

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

The ISU Speed Skating World Cup started off in November, with the season opening in Obihiro, Japan.

The next stop was in Seoul, South Korea, where I had my first start in the Male Division B 10.000 m race. The event took place from 21 - 23 November 2014.

I think I did pretty good, taking into account that I'm currently not yet at my top performance level. I placed 12th which got me 3 points in the World Cup classification with the time being 14:09.78.

What hit me after skating at the rink was that it had really the slowest ice I've ever raced on in my life. We call the ice "slow" or "fast" depending on many factors like air pressure, air temperature, humidity, height above sea level.

Apart form the sport event, I really wanted to do some sight-seeing in the city of Seoul, but because of the tight training plan I couldn't do it. The least I could do was watching the city through our bus window on our way from the hotel to the rink. I hope I will get to visit this city again!

Last modified on Thursday, 11 December 2014

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