Croatian diver sets record for breath-holding

A diver from Croatia On June 14 this year, Vitomir Maricic installed a new world record from holding your breath underwater. 

The diver set a record in his hometown of Opatija in a 3-meter deep pool. Maricic took a deep breath and lay down on the bottom of the pool, where he stayed for 29 minutes and 3 seconds. His achievement was recorded in the Book of Records Guinness World Records. The Croatian freediver surpassed the previous record by 5 minutes. 

Maricic held his breath for almost half an hour, which seems incredible. This is twice as long as natural divers, such as bottlenose dolphins. Probably, the Croatian freediver could even compete with seals.

With each breath, a seal can replace up to 90% of the air in its lungs. Compared to this, a human can only take in 20% of fresh oxygen with each breath. So people need to take more breaths To get into the body as much oxygen as possible was supplied. Before the attempt, Maricic inhaled pure oxygen for 10 minutes.

In this way, he increased the oxygen content in the blood plasma, which is a key reservoir of oxygen for tissues in the human body. The Croatian freediver explained, that he moved on to attempt setting a world record with 5 times more oxygen in his body than usual. Otherwise, his attempt would have failed.

However, even under normal conditions Maricic can hold his breath for up to 10 minutes. The Guinness World Record for unassisted breath holding is 11 minutes and 35 seconds. It was set by Branko Petrovic from Serbia in 2014. For comparison, the average person can hold their breath for 30-90 seconds.

Pros data official website of the Guinness World Records, In June, Maricic attempted the longest breath hold to draw attention to the problem of ocean conservation. He may also succeed in surpassing Branko Petrovic’s record. 

Vitomir became a world freediving champion in five disciplines. Maricic won a bronze medal at the World Freediving Championships and set world records in the AIDA and CMAS systems in the long dive with individual fins. In April 2019, Vitomir Maricic set a CMAS men’s record in the long dive with bi-fins, swimming a distance of 264.7 meters. 

Vitomir Maricic is known not only for his achievements in freediving. He swam with sharks, whales, and dolphins, led expeditions to Kilimanjaro and Elbrus. He met with African tribes, bathed in the Amazon River, stood on the edges of volcanoes, walked a rope over a canyon, climbed ice waterfalls, jumped out of an airplane and piloted it. He also ate beetles, reptiles, and many other exotic insects.