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Wolle Neugebauer, the apnoist: I can dive almost 80m deep with one breath. I can hold my breath for almost 9 minutes... this extreme sport is called apnea diving and for a while I was one of the best in the world.It all started when I was about 10 years old. At the time, there was a test at my swimming centre to see who could dive the furthest. Completely unexpectedly, it was me, with a proud 30m on my first attempt. I was most surprised myself. But hardly anyone was willing to believe my distance later. I had to show it again and again. Of course, that didn't always work at first go. Since then, I prefer to move along the bottom in the swimming hall rather than on the surface. I also indulged my passion in the sea and the lake. In 1992 the day came when a scuba diver asked me: "Hey, dive as deep as you can! - then I dived exactly -24.6m on my first attempt. The "depth" in metres didn't really interest me back then. It was the feeling. Simply indescribable! But to get that again, I had to dive deeper and deeper. At that time, I didn't know anything about the dangers, nor that it was called apnea diving. But as much as other divers admired me for my "extreme snorkelling", their warnings became louder and louder. For my own safety, I contacted other freedivers in 2001 and learned that it was a real sport. Then came competitions and very quickly the first records. I developed new techniques and training methods. Freediving was really my life for a short time, culminating in my world record attempt in deep diving without fins in 2004. I achieved the required depth in training. However, the time and money required for an official record attempt exceeded the limits of my capabilities. Since 2005 I have been "back on land" and only pursue this hobby when I have enough free time for it. Maybe it's just this relaxed approach? - because despite the much lower training intensity, I always achieve new best performances. Freediving seems to be primarily a mental thing... |
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My greatest competition successes: |
Personal best performances training/competition:
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