Every year in Europe, there is a narrow time frame for apnea diving under ice in which such ventures are even possible from a climatic and technical point of view. This is because the ice cover has to be thick enough for world record attempts to be carried out on or under it. In Austria in particular, there are places where the lakes are reliably covered by a thick layer of ice – at least for the current time. This led to an ambitious competition for the »longest swim under ice – breath held (monofin, no wetsuit, male)«. And two world record attempts were made in this discipline within a short space of time.
February 7 – Christian Redl dives under ice with a mono fin
On February 7, 2024, extreme athlete Christian Redl improved the world’s best apnea diving performance registered with the RID in Weissensee, Austria. Redl covered 75 meters under a closed sheet of ice, without a wetsuit and with a monofin on his feet.
February 3 – Peter Colat dives even further under ice with a monofin
Swiss freediver Peter Colat had also planned to secure the world record for »longest swim under ice – breath held (monofin, no wetsuit, male)« and scheduled his attempt in Tannheim (A) for February 3, 2024. There, Colat achieved a distance of 114.2 meters, as his submitted documents confirm. It was unfortunate to only hear about this new best performance after his own world record attempt, said Christian Redl when he found out about Colat’s new distance. He would have liked to have known about it earlier so that he could have reacted before his attempt.
Christian Redl thus set the Austrian record with his performance of 75 meters. No Austrian has ever covered a greater apnea distance under ice without a wetsuit and with a mono fin than he did. We are very excited to see when Redl will attempt to secure the world record – at his second attempt. The new world record for the »longest swim under ice – breath held (monofin, no wetsuit, male)« is set by Peter Colat at 114.2 meters.
Photos: Fritz Liechti (2)
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