Star of deep apnea, Frenchman Arnaud Jerald broke the world record in constant weight bi-fins twice in a few days during the Vertical Blue competition in the Bahamas with a dive made Tuesday to 120 meters.

The 26-year-old Marseillais dived 3 minutes and 35 seconds to achieve his feat, on the occasion of this prestigious competition which brings together some forty of the best freedivers in the world each year at Dean's Blue Hole, a natural blue hole 202 meters deep.

“I stayed very focused and calm underwater.

Right in my peak of form, I was able to do a sprint of 120 to 50 meters, "explained the diver, who improved by one meter the world record which he had already seized on Friday during the same competition (119 meters).



“Once I came to the surface it was a huge explosion of joy.

I had in mind this scene from the Big Blue where Jacques Mayol comes back up after a dive with a pig and the judge lets go: “He's done 120 meters!

".

To be the first to reach this mythical mark in dual fins is huge,” rejoiced Arnaud Jerald.

With these two consecutive records, the Frenchman regained the upper hand in the constant weight dual fin category, more physical and slower than the monofin, over the Russian superstar Alexey Molchanov who until then held the best world mark at 118 meters.

The constant weight data means that the freediver descends and ascends ballasted with the same amount of weight, along a rope.

Jerald now plans to specialize in monofin where Alexey Molchanov reigns supreme with a record at 131 meters deep.

Marseilles

"At the bottom, we think much faster than on the surface", says freediver and record holder Arnaud Jerald

Did you see ?

The magical images of freediver Arnaud Jerald in the heart of the Teahupoo wave

  • Sport

  • Dive

  • Apnea

  • Marseilles

  • Paca

  • World record