TV apperance on "I kveld" NRK2, 18.des

I travelled home to Norway on wednesday, mainly for the holiday, but also to be a guest in norwegian tv show called "I kveld" ("Tonight") on NRK2. They showed the little movie Martin made from diving the canyon in April and I was talking about the diving in dahab, training and the freediving disciplines. In the background you see some pictures taken on different freediving trips.

It was fun to see the surprised face of the host, Christian Strand, when I was explaining that we humans also have a diving response like other dolphins or whales. And hopefully I've convinced the opera singer who finished the show to snorkel a little deeper on her next holiday. She might have a great freediving potential....

Newsarticle in Dagbladet

Fredrik Naumann, a norwegian photographer, came to Århus in June to follow me at the Aarhus Triple Challenge and take some pictures. He's working together with journalist Marianne Alfsen in their company Felix Features and producing articles for different newspapers and magazines. Unlike many others, their focus is in-depth reporting and telling the story right.

The result was covering 4 pages + the front page of Dagbladet's Sport Magasin on Friday 28th November. The pictures turned out great, both thanks to the photographer and to the lovely weather we had. I was also very happy with the text. I think Marianne did a good job on describing freediving the way I find it, intriging, safe and still in need of more women.


This kind of coverage is something the really sport needs, as usually we are drowed by soccer, skiing and more soccer. Maybe some day, people will not turn their heads when I wait for the bus with my monofin, or stop up staring at the freedivers training static in their wetsuits. Or maybe not :)

More from Eindhoven

There are a couple of more things worth mentioning about this competition, like the car breaking down on the drive down to Holland. The snowstorm we had on saturday (had no idea the dutch had such weather). And the nice prices given to the winners from the sponsors of the competition. I recieved a throphe, a bottle of vine and the percervation of 500m2 of rainforest in Equador.

Copyright BlueConsult.biz

On the picture: Nanja Van den Broek(2), me(1), Barbara Jeschke(2) and in front Stig Severinsen from BlueConsult

The competition saw 10 national records and one continental record (William Winram with 205m in DYN). Big congratulations to Barbara, Ulf, Will, Ilka and everybody else! Two new nations were represented (I haven't seen them on competitions before...), Irish and Emirati. I was also very happy to see two new guys from Aarhus Freediving Club compete in their first competition and doing very well.

Hopefully I'll get a couple of more pictures here soon.

1.place at the 4th Dutch Apnea Open, 23. Nov

I hadn't really thought I'd get the chance to compete in the 4th Dutch Apnea Open, as I had just been in Berlin the weekend before. But on wednesday 19th I got to know there was a free spot in a car with the danish freedivers driving down to Eindhoven, and I decided to join. And I'm very happy I did!

After the dissapointment at the competition in Lignano Sabbiadoro, I didn't really feel like competing or training much. But after watching the Long Night of Apnea in Berlin from the sideline, I felt something was missing. I was ready to dive again...

I went to Eindhoven with no expectations or goals, only to have fun and enjoy the diving. The only thing I had promised myself was to not quit.

With so many nice people around, a beautiful pool and a good athmosphere, I enjoyed it from the start. I did a 5 min static which I was quite happy with. Contractions at 2.30, fighting hard from 4 min, but not quiting. Big thanks to Martin (who took a detour to say hi) for the coaching here!

I had enough time before the dynamic to eat a little and relax, which was good, as the long drive the day before had drained alot of energy. I went into the water 20min before top to check out the depth, the turns and the markings on the bottom, then sat on the side relaxing and keeping warm. When the dive started, I was in a happy state, not at all stressed or nervous as in Lignano. I managed to keep the good spirit and when I turned at 100m, I knew I had broken that barrier from before. My legs were tired though, and I came up at 136m to a white card.

The rest of the day I kept smiling. Winning the 1st price overall was a great plus to top the whole thing. I've found some of the joy of competing again. Now I'm eager to train and to do more next time, and break down some other barriers. See you in Geneva in January?

Stop bycatch!

I was very happy to be a part of the WWF campain against bycatch. We were six freedivers who got painted like different sea creatures ( I was the whale shark), and got entangled in the net during the underwater photo event to create "a living picture" of the practice we working to stop.


From WWF: "Every year hundreds of thousands of sharks, whales and sea turtles as well as millions of tons of fish die as useless bycatch on hocks and in nets of the fishing industry world wide. They are discarded like waste. In the coming weeks a law should take shape in Brussels that should curtail this wastage. The WWF is calling on the Federal Covernment of Germany to advocate for a stop on these wasting practices."

The event took place in Staatbad Schöneberg, Berlin, on the 3rd of November. I will come back with more info, pictures and video.

Picture: Making of Gabriel+Matthias (bodypainters)
Www.gabriel-lg.de
Www.muschka.de

Swimming through the Canyon, Dahab

Maybe it's the thrill of diving into a dark hole at 27m depth, knowing the exit is some 15m away. Or maybe it's the beautiful patches of light finding it's way through holes in the roof of the cave. Swimming though the Canyon was certainly one of my best freediving moments. Check it out!



I hope to go back there soon! Thanks to Daan for filming and Martin for putting the video together and filming part of it.

Europe Evolution Cup 4.-5. october

Martin and I travelled to Venice on the 2. of october to spend one day in the city before taking the train to Lignano Sabbiadoro, the site of a somehow special competition. The Europe Evolution Cup was going to host both an AIDA and a CMAS competition alongside each other, for the first time in history. It didn't mean much of a difference to the competition itself. AIDA and CMAS competitors were to compete at seperate times with different judges and rules, but it ment that the two families of freedivers would get to know each other a little better. One problem though, most of the CMAS freedivers were italian and therefore only spoke italian.


The whole competition was ment to attract alot of the great names and stars of our sport, but this might have scared alot of the average freediver away. This was a real pitty as the AIDA competition only counted 12-13 names. It was still a well organized competition, a nice pool and some good results (two WR!).

I was happy to do a 5min 4sek dive in static, because the contractions came early (2min) and I had to do a little fighting to get there. Things didn't go so well in dynamic unfortunatly, even though this diciplin had been my biggest focus. The count down got messed up. The 2 min mark came at the wrong time, no 1'30, no 20sek. I kicked off with a bad feeling and alot of nerves, which made me come up already at 75m.

The judges (Pim and Bill) gave me a restart, along with Barbara, but it was just not my day. I came up after doing my announced performance at 110m.

It was very inspiring to watch Natalja Molchanova swim 214m (WR), and then her son, Alexey, doing his first world record with 250m. I got to chat with her during the doping test and got a few "secrect" training exercises. I'll have to try it out and see where it takes me...