Plans for 2010

We have just started a new, exciting year and I'm already planning and dreaming about all the freediving I want to do!

Berlin Master - competition + monofin course - 19.-20. February
Bizzy Blue Hole (inshalla)- Dahab, Egypt - 17.-30. April
3rd Mediterranean Freediving World Cup, Greece, - 14.-20. June
Team World Championship - Okinawa, Japan - 30. June-10.July

Most important is to get a female team (or a team at all) for the team WCh. Norway hasn't competed in team since 2006, but we have come a long way since then :) And travelling to Japan to freedive would be a dream come true. So, fingers crossed for some sponsors to come along...

Gjøvik Sports Award 2009

The freediving year of 2009 finished off very well, as I got a letter saying that I had won a sports award from my home town Gjøvik. It was the first time they gave out "Gjøvik kommunes Idrettspris", so it was even a little bit historic. I'm very honored to recieve the price and hope for a good year in 2010 as well.

Diving at Nemo 33

A week ago, I was travelling to Brussel to attend a research meeting, and I managed to put in a few extra days. The plan was very simple: see the city and go diving! Now most people think of a little peeing boy or chocolate when talking about Brussel, but the city also has a special pool, that is worth a visit.

Nemo 33 is the name of the worlds deepest diving pool, built especially to attract scubadives with a 35m deep pitch and several caves. It is also a perfect spot to practice skills or just enjoy, with 33 degree water and endless visibility. Unfortunatly, they are not allowing freedivers in the deep part, which sort of spoil the fun. Without a tank, you're only allowed in the 5 and 10m deep parts, and there's an instructor watching closely if you follow the rules :(

So, I had to sign up for a scuba dive, as I did want to touch bottom in this special pool. Luckily I found a group of friendly british divers which let me join then. The scubadive also included 10min of "snorkling" before gearing up, which I enjoyed!



Next time, I think I have to bring a freediving buddy, my own mask and fins, and try to bribe those guards. It would be a wonderful place to train during the winter!

My first (part of a) marathon

Last weekend, I travelled to Berlin together with the danish dynamics, Rune and Jesper, to help out at the annual Long Night of Apnea (yes, helping out. not competing!). The competition was not as long as usual, but very nice. Good performances and some impressive stamina at the 16x50m.
The next day, we had gathered a little team of freedivers to join the Berlin Team Marathon! It was a sunny, beautiful day at the former Tempelhof Airport, which made for a historic background for the run.
Our team (one out of 1100 teams): The Hypoxic Runners!

Martin: 1:02:40 (12,195 km)
Steffen: 0:52:45/1:55:25 (10 km)
Anna: 0:30:08/2:25:33 (5 km)
Jesper: 1:01:45/3:27:18 (10 km)
Elisabeth: 0:29:26/3:56:43 (5km)

Final time: 3:56:43

It was a great atmosphere with all the runners and spectators, people cheering and enjoying the day. And we had a good team spirit, and I believe everybody gave their max performance. By the look of Jesper's face when we changed, he couldn't have done much more! For me, it was sort of special. It was my first time ever to cross a finishing line, but it won't be the last..

A closer look at hypoxia

Lately, my days have been occupied by less freediving and more studying. I'm still training and trying to stay in shape, but having a break from the competition rush at the moment.

I'm currently working on my bachelor project (to be finished in June 2010), which is somehow related to freediving. I will be studying how hypoxia is increasing the formation of new blood vessels in the body. A protein called hypoxia-inducible factor is responsible for activating several genes, which give us a physical response and help the body to cope with the stress.

From a freediving perspective, it's facinating to learn more about what's happening in the body when it's faced with low oxygen. There's still lots to learn.

Norwegian championship of freediving

AIDA Norway and Oslo Freediving Club(OFK) held the first ever national championship in freediving 18th October in Askim. With 12 competitors, among them both new and old freedivers, the competition saw lot's of white cards and even a national record in STA (Bjarte Nygard).

Big thanks to everybody from OFK for organizing, safetying, filming etc. Several people were both helping out and competing, and I was also judging for the first time.

On the women's side, Maria Hovden gave me some good competition after the static discipline. I had to pull off a decent dyn in order to beat her.In the end I managed to find the rythm in the water after judging and being a little stressed out. My end results: STA - 4:03 and DYN - 142m.


More info and results, check out the AIDA Norway blog.

Monofin course in Oslo, 19th October

I will be giving a monofin course in Oslo, 19th October, together with DNF world champion Bjarte Nygard. The course will take place in and outside the pool at Norges Idrettshøyskole, where Oslo Freediving Club has their training hours.


The course is open for both beginners and experienced, as the level will be adapted to the participants. A monofin is not obligatory, small rubber fins or bifins will work fine. The main goal is to learn or improve the basic movement of the body which is the basis of good technique.

Preliminary schedual:
18:30 - (In lecture room) Introduction to monofin technique, videos of different styles and basic movement principles. Discussion about different monofin models and how to make a training program.
20:00 - Streching exercises for monofin swimming
20:30 - In water practise of the movement with small rubberfins or monofin with video corrections

The total duration of the course is ~3 hours and the cost is 300 NOK per person.

To sign up or get more information, please email or leave a comment :)