New British Women’s Freediving Record

Posted By Paul Kotik on Thursday Apr 12, 2007 @ 18:32 in FreeDiving

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The British Freediving Association is pleased to announce a new British women’s freediving record, in the constant-weight-without-fins discipline. This was set by Sara Campbell on 3rd April 2007, who reached a new depth of 30 metres.

In this category, the freediver descends and ascends under water using only his/her own strength, without the use of propulsion equipment. This is the most physically demanding of all the depth disciplines.

Sara is a newcomer to freediving, and achieved the record in Dahab, Egypt as part of an AIDA competition there. Linda Paganelli, co-founder of Freedive Dahab, and co-organiser of the competition with partner Lotta Ericson, said: “I have been coaching Sara since her very first course with me last April. It was clear that she has a talent for freediving – probably her years of yoga and her love of the sea helped her progress so quickly. I find it incredibly satisfying when my students begin competing, especially when they do so well and are so relaxed in the water.”

As well as the achievement of obtaining a record in her first competition, Sara had to overcome a lengthy illness battling Hepatitis ‘A’, some seven months previous. Her return to training came just one week prior to the competition. After reaching the record depth, Sara had this to say: “I’m delighted that today went so well for me. I was nervous last night and this morning, but the minute I entered the water, I felt utterly relaxed and peaceful. My warm-ups went like a dream and the actual dive went one hundred percent to plan and was just beautiful.”
Sara is a resident of Dahab, famous for the Blue Hole, which provides perfect conditions for both freediving and Scuba."