The British Freediving Association is proud to announce a new UK record in the Men’s Dynamic discipline. On Saturday 23rd February 2008 at the 3rd German Indoor Championship in Static and Dynamic Apnea held in Berlin, Martin Macnaughton completed a performance of 178m. The new record beats the previous record of 156m, which had been the oldest of all British records, set by Dave King in 2004. The discipline of Dynamic Apnea involves the athlete travelling horizontally to cover the greatest distance on a single breath.
The record, on its own is a remarkable achievement. However three facts make this record outstanding. Macnaughton, who lives and trains in Copenhagen, has only been freediving since Autumn 2007, which makes him a relative novice. Secondly, Macnaughton’s dynamic dive is the highest result for anyone in their debut AIDA competition, an achievement that has escaped all the current top freedivers. Finally, Martin did this all whilst ill with a heavy cold.
Martin rounded off his debut with an impressive 5 minute 32 second static breath hold, securing him 4th place in the competition overall. BFA Committee member Ben Noble, who was one of four judges attending said “Martin’s performance was very strong, clean and clearly looked like he had more to give. A fantastic surprise for British freediving”.
The Berlin German Indoor Championship is part of the annual German Championship and is the 10th Berlin Master Cup. It attracts top athletes from throughout Europe to compete in Static and Dynamic.
In recent months British freediving has seen a resurgence, with national records for Dynamic and Dynamic No-Fins falling in the last month, and also the meteoric rise of triple world record holder and 2007 Constant Weight World Champion Sara Campbell.