A Croatian freediver set a new Guinness World Record, holding his breath for nearly half an hour as judges and an eager crowd watched, reports Divernet.
Laid out on his back, hands behind his head, Vitomir Maričić held his breath for a staggering 29 minutes and three seconds in the bottom of a three-metre-deep hotel pool. Maricic prepared by pre-breathing pure oxygen for an unspecified length of time, although up to 30 minutes has been allowed with previous attempts. A crowd of some 100 spectators joined a group of five official judges to witness Maricic’s attempt on 14 June. The Croatian freediver, who already holds multiple records, surpassed the previous record for “the longest breath held voluntarily under water using oxygen” by nearly five minutes.
“After the 20-minute mark, everything became easier, at least mentally,” he said after surfacing, but explained that the experience had “got worse and worse physically, especially for my diaphragm, because of the contractions. But mentally I knew I wasn’t going to give up.” He credited his achievement to the support of his team, family and friends.
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The previous record, set by fellow Croatian Budimir Šobat in 2021 also utilised oxygen pre-breathing, in which a diver inhales 100-percent oxygen for a period of time before diving. By nearly quintupling the amount of oxygen in each breath, divers can dramatically delay the buildup of carbon dioxide that drives the urge to take a breath. Around 15 minutes of pre-breathing can extend breath hold to nearly 20 minutes without blood oxygen dipping below normal levels.
That doesn’t mean it’s easy. A breath-hold over seven minutes is considered extremely difficult, something most professional freedivers train for years to achieve. To more than triple that, requires highly controlled diaphragmatic breathing in the breath-up, as well as exceptional body awareness, breathing technique and mental control to maintain the deep relaxation needed to keep the heart-rate low.
The world records for static apnea – underwater breath-hold on air, which is just 21-percent oxygen – are held by Frenchman Stéphanie Mifsud (11min 35sec) for the international freedivers association AIDA and Serbian Branko Petrović (11min 54sec) for Guinness. Maricic’s AIDA static apnea best is just 10 minutes eight seconds – short of the records, but far better than the rest of us can manage, with the average person only able to hold their breath for between 30 and 90 seconds.
