On Friday, the Guinness World Records announced that Croatian freediver Vitomir Maričić has broken the record for “the longest underwater walk with one breath (male).”
By walking 107 metres underwater, Maričić broke the previous record of another Croatian freediver Boris Milosic, who had walked 96 metres in March 2020.
Maričić took upon himself to break the world record in an attempt to bring awareness to the research done around freediving by Thallassotherapia Opatija, a hospital in Croatia that provides treatment for heart, lung, and rheumatic diseases. Interestingly, the record-breaking walk on September 17, 2021, was done in the swimming pool of the same hospital.
According to the Guinness World Record website, Maričić walked a little over two laps of the 50-metre swimming pool and held his breath for an astonishing three minutes and six seconds. To make sure that one of his feet stays in contact with the floor, he carried weights in his arms.
An incredible 107 m (351 ft 0.5 in) underwater walk with just one breath
Congratulations to Croatia’s Vitomir Maričić https://t.co/pi8KLqHFsF
— Guinness World Records (@GWR) March 6, 2022
Maričić told the Guinness World Records that he did not practice much for the underwater walk as he gets enough breath-holding practice due to his freediving exercises.
Maričić, who is an acclaimed professional freediver, won the Freediving World Championship held in Belgrade last year. Before that, he won two bronze and one gold medal at the 2021 AIDA Freediving World Championship that was held in Limassol, Cyprus.
As the reigning king of extreme freediving sport, Maričić also uses his clout to raise awareness about ocean pollution and unethical shark hunting.
In 2020, Illayaram Sekar, a Chennai resident, broke the record of ‘Most Rubik’s cubes solved underwater’ as he solved six Rubik’s cubes in a little over two minutes while holding his breath.
