Klovar and Torocsik Take CNF Gold at AIDA Depth Worlds

The first medals of the AIDA Depth World Championships in Limassol, Cyprus, went to the discipline many freedivers regard as the hardest of all. Constant Weight No Fins (CNF) asks athletes to reach depth and return using only their own arm strokes and leg kicks, without fins and without pulling on the line.

Women: a national record for gold

On day one, DeeperBlue reports, Hungary's Zsofia Torocsik won the women's title with a dive to 78m, which was also a Hungarian national record. Croatia's Sanda Delija took silver at 75m, likewise a national best, and Ukraine's Nataliia Zharkova collected bronze at 68m.

Six more women set national records further down the field, among them Switzerland's Vera Burkard at 62m and Ireland's Megan Lyons at 50m.

Men: Klovar stays in control

A day later, Croatia's Petar Klovar, the current CNF world record holder, won the men's event with a clean 96m. He had chosen a conservative announced depth and afterwards described the dive as a fairly good one, admitting he had felt cold and tense at the start because he expected it to be hard.

Alexey Molchanov, competing as an independent athlete, took silver at 93m after a dive that lasted four and a half minutes. He said he had tried to save energy by gliding more, and noted that currents off Cyprus can be unpredictable. Oman's Omar Al Ghailani and Brad Stephens of the United States shared bronze, both at 75m.

A Korean record at 73m

The men's session produced seven national records. One of them belonged to South Korea's Jihoon Jang, who reached 73m, a new Korean mark in the discipline. Other records came from Switzerland's Christian Brauchli at 68m and from athletes representing Lithuania, Latvia, Lebanon, the UAE and Moldova.

The cost of pushing

Not every dive ended well. DeeperBlue counted 15 red cards and eight yellow cards on the men's day alone. Several athletes lost consciousness at or near the surface, and others were penalised for pulling on the rope or for missing the 15-second surface protocol. On day one, one athlete who blacked out on the way up was helped to the surface by safety divers; she was first ruled out of the rest of the event and then reinstated after a protest.

These incidents happened inside a tightly supervised competition with dedicated safety divers on every dive. They are a reminder that depth progression in no-fins diving should be gradual, and that recreational freedivers should train with a certified instructor and never dive without a trained buddy watching from the surface.

The championships continue in Limassol until October 10, with the remaining depth disciplines still to come.