By Benjamin Boehme
For the 4th year since 2012 Freedive Dahab, part of Freedive International, is organizing the Russian Freediving Championships for AIDA Russia and the Molchanovs family in Dahab at the famous Blue Hole. The dates for the annual competition are set for the 13th and 15th of May. Participants will be able compete in two depth disciplines Constant Weight, Constant Weight no Fins. Non-Russian freedivers are also very welcome to join the competition either if it is for gaining first competition experience or a national record.
Natalia and Alexey molchanovs happy after their successful dives
The Competition has world record status. Natalia Molchanova who has been joining our competitions in Dahab yearly since 2005 set her first world record in Constant Weight no Fins to 55 meters in 2005 along with another one to 78 meters in Free Immersion. She also broke 1 world records on each edition of the Russian Freediving Championships in Dahab! This year’s depth limit will be set deeper than 100 meters as part of the competition so the deeper dives will be held outside the reef surrounding the Blue Hole, where the Red Sea drops off to over 300 meters.
This competition will also be a perfect chance to qualify for the AIDA depth World Championships in September 2015. So everybody who is still missing points might want to consider to join. Even for less ambitious divers it is worth a consideration, as the experience gained during a competition is very helpful for your training therefore your Freediving career. The ability to perform when asked to does not have to do with reaching any depth so even if you are not diving very deep yet, because you just started this wonderful sport you will gain a lot for your future training.
Marina Kazankova during her dive.
Two years ago I was safety diving during the Russian Championships and Triple Depth, which is another annual competition hosted by Freedive Dahab in October, where athletes have to compete in all three different depth disciplines. Safety diving during competitions is a great experience as a Freediver. You are able to see very good athletes performing and also learn a lot from the mistakes that sometimes happen. Apart from the fact that it is anyway always a pleasure to dive in the crystal clear waters of the Red Sea.
Freedive Dahab is happy to arrange pre-competition training. Anyone interested can simply contact us via e-mail or come by at our shop in Dahab, while Russians need to register through Aida Russia at freediving [email protected]
Everybody is welcome to join the competition if as competitor or spectator. Final registration dates will be updated soon.
Benjamin Boehme is Freedive International instructor and blogger since 2012
