It's all over!!!

Hi guys!

Well, the individual indoor world champs is all over for another two years. The Kiwis have taken out one third of the available medals.

Guy Brew managed gold in both static and dynamic after Bjarte Nygard pushed too far and blacked out at about 240m.

Suzy became the second woman in the world to reach 200m and took a silver medal for the dynamic.

I was one of three people who competed in all heats and finals and earned a bronze in both dynamic events and silver in static.

For me exhaustion had set in by my third event in the first 24 hours. I was unaware of how tired I really was until I had started my dynamic without fins final dive. I aborted at 138m due to the immense fatigue. I was pretty disappointed as this is the shortest competition dive I have done in a long time.

I didn't sleep well the next night, had to get up at 6:30am to eat prior to my static and had lactic in my legs from walking to the pool in the morning and in my arms after plaiting my hair. I decided to take some sports supplements to give me energy as I didn't really feel I could rely on my own power any more and they worked for the rest of the competition. The static final was a huge struggle for me. I thought that it was going to be all over when I got my first contraction and mis-heard my coach saying 2:40 – a short time later it was 4 minutes so the first contraction was 3:40. I pushed myself through with pure determination waiting for my coach to tell me when I was in the final three. Eventually Chris let me know that it was just Natalia and I left so I came up some 30s after the bronze medalist Jessica Wilson. I had no idea what the time was, I'd just been focussing on whether my head was still clear or not.

My dynamic heat was 10 hours after my static final, so after the dope test and some lunch I headed back to the hostel for a lie down. The heat was pretty aweful. I was again really tired, but my head was clear. I was in the last heat so had the luxury of knowing exactly what I needed to do. I was told I needed 165m to make the A-final so that's what I did (kind of lucky though that Maria Livjberg didn't do more in the next lane – she was feeling like I had the day before). It was about 10pm before we made it back to the hostel for some steak.

Finally I slept tremendously well and awoke 11 hours later. I was so exhausted. The dynamic final was in the late afternoon so there was no hurry. The nerves had subsided as I was well used to the competition by my sixth event. I approached this dive the same as my other dives in the finals: to do as much as I can with a nice clean exit. I felt stronger again, but it was still a challenge. I didn't realise I was so close to the wall or I might have pushed a little harder...

I'm very pleased to have achieved my goal for the world champs of a medal in each discipline, consistent clean dives throughout and not letting the nerves overpower me.

It was such a relief to be all over!

Competition day two

This morning was the Static heats. I had my usual pre-competition poor sleep. At least I was in bed for 9 hours. Just after breakfast I found out that there had been problems at the pool and the start times would all be pushed back one hour. Someone broke in over night and stole all the computers, video cameras and big TV screens. They were asking around for replacements to get the competition moving again. It sounds like all the officials acted in a calm and professional manner and got the situation under control as quickly as possible and the competition only experienced minimal delays in the scheme of things. Everything ran so smoothly for us athletes yesterday. The TVs showed underwater footage during the dives and results within about 10 mins of each heat. It was very disappointing to come in this morning and see it all gone.

There were only three Kiwis competiting in Static apnea this morning: Chris, Guy and me. Chris was first up and did a clean 4:52. I don't know that he really pushed it that hard! I was in the final heat containing women: me and the three medalists from the Maribor World Champs two years ago. My dive was pretty painful but I had plenty of air and did 6:18, which was enough to convincingly make the A final. Guy's lungs are obviously feeling better which is great because I know he was a bit scared of how they would react to his first proper breath hold since his squeeze. He did something around 7:30 (sorry I should have checked) and made the A final.

We are now waiting around for the dynamic without fins final.

Day 2 - Unexpected Developments

We arrived at the pool this morning to find that 100,000 euro of electronic gear had been stolen overnight from the stadium, including all the surface cameras and computers with the competition stuff. The end result is the organisers in a bit of a panic and the top times all put back by one hour. Nevertheless, the show goes on with whatever we can brush together.

As for the New Zealanders, both Kerian and me suffered from nerves and pressure in our no fins dives, failing to make the finals due to red cards. I was just unable to settle before my dive and despite trying to slow down a bit to calm myself, the required distance was simply too much on the day. Nevertheless, we at least have Will and both Suzy & Kathryn to cheer for in the finals. All three had very controlled dives, doin just what they needed to do without tiring themselves out.

Today sees three Kiwis doing statics, starting with me and my 2:00 nomination, then Kathryn in a very exciting women's heat. Guy is up almost last (there's a final heat with just one diver) and will be up against the big guns, including Timo, Eric RVP, Jesper and Jens. I'll be coaching Maria our Norwegian Kiwi, as well as both other actual Kiwis. We'll keep you all updated through the day with results, especially the no fins finals this evening.

Until then, Ciao!

The World Champs has begun

Well, here we are, finally in Aarhus, Denmark, competiting at the AIDA individual indoor freediving world championships. The Kiwi team are mostly staying a little out of town at a backpackers in the woods. It is beautiful, peaceful and quiet and I am sleeping fantastically well. Chris left us yesterday when his father called and asked him where they should meet. Ian decided to pop over and support (and surprise) him. My room is a mix of girls from different nationalities: Ruth from Auckland & Northern Ireland representing Great Britain, Maria from Norway who learned to dive with the Lazy Seals and Jana from Canada who just doesn't have a team. We're doing our best to adopt as many honorary Kiwis as possible.

We had our first competition day of the world champs today with the dynamic without fins heats. There was much excitment with a lot of national records and black outs as people pushed to their limits to try to make finals.

Suzy was one of the early starters and the first girl to do a long enough dive to qualify for the finals. She did a personal best of 132m.

I had nominated pretty high (the highest of all the women) so was in the final heat containing women (the heats are mixed sexes) so knew essentially what I had to do. I had nominated 127m so wanted to do that as a minimum, so just turned at the 125 and came up at 128m. Quite luxurious really. I definitely felt nerves but they weren't dibilitating as they have been in the past. My buoyancy wasn't great in the deep pool, but it wasn't too much of a challenging dive and I qualified 7th out of 8th for the A final. The announcer thought I only did 118m (not sure how he figured that out) and everyone kept asking me afterwards "what happened?"

All our three boys nominated high so were in the last heat and knew exactly what they were required to do to make the final. Will made it through with a very clean and conserrvative looking dive to 162m. Kerian has his first sizeable samba that made him re-submerge his airways at about the same distance as Will and scored him a red card. Chris made it to the surface somewhere around 140m but also blacked out.

The static heats are tomorrow morning. I'm once again in the last heat containing 4 of the world's best women. Hopefully I will have the luxury of not having to push it too hard again. The dynamic without fins finals are in the early evening.

Hi all. Its 10pm on the eve of the first competition day here in Aarhus, Denmark. Had the march from the pool down to the town hall today - apparently there's around 40 nations represented with over 200 athletes - lots of colour, smiles and photo ops. Had drinks and nibbles while listening to speeches from Aida, Cmas, city reps etc. Actually not that painful. Its been fun getting to say hi to a heap of new faces, pretty much everybody is friendly and can speak at least some english.

DNF day tomorrow. 102 athletes competing in the heats, going 6 at a time, from lowest to highest nomination. Mixed sexes which is interesting. A bunch of those favored to do well have nominated around 1 metre, with some of the other 'guns', including all three kiwi boys competing - Kerian, Chris and Will, nominating high and going in the last heat. Will, who is arriving in town shortly, made the highest nomination at 156m.

The atmosphere is pretty good in the kiwi camp. I'm slowly recovering from a lung squeeze from Nordic Deep, Kathryn and Suzy are getting over colds, nothing too serious. Kathryn, Kerian, Darrell and myself, plus 'honorary' kiwis: Ruth (UK) Maria (Norway) and Jana (Canada) are staying at a hostel 30 mins away by bus; Suzy and her man Robbie are staying in the gymnasium with a bunch of other athletes. Chris was with us, but deserted to stay at a hotel with his father Ian, when he turned up completely out of the blue yesterday.

One of us will try to give an update sometime after tomorrow's DNF heats, which start at 3pm with the last swim at 6pm. STA nominations in by 1.30pm. I'll be busy coaching a few of the guys and gals. Wish em well...

Guy