Apnea diver André Grabs had it before: the world record in the discipline "long distance in open water without fins". At that time André dived 130 meters with just one breath until he was outbid by Thomas Plum from Stuttgart. This record of 131 meters now had to be broken. Together with DAVOSA brand ambassador Nik Linder, he has been training hard over the past few months to reach this.

He had chosen October 3rd as the date for this. The day of German unity. This Saturday finally offered anything but good conditions to go diving in the Freiburg "Moosweiher": pouring rain, squalls and a temperature of around 8 degrees. And that although Freiburg is on average one of the warmest places in Germany. But for the freediver from Gundelfingen, it's not about persistence, but simply about the risk of risking that his months of training were in vain because he could cool down too quickly in the cold lake and thus lose too much energy in advance. But now there is no turning back. Everyone is there: his wife Karin, the backup divers, training partner Nik Linder, the SWR, the official referees of the international competition association AIDA and last but not least Günter Bugl from the record institute "Record Holders Republic", who is supposed to confirm the official world record.

So he moves his concentration and breathing exercises to the preheated car. With his DAVOSA Argonautic Bronze TT, he finally gets out of the car to take a breath and dive into the cold lake, which offers particularly poor visibility that day. It stays under the water surface for 2 minutes and 50 seconds! Without an oxygen bottle, snorkel or similar equipment! He is not even allowed to wear fins in this discipline. During this time he has covered a distance of 135 meters! 4 meters more than the previous record. But it's not done yet: After such a borderline experience, the body sometimes demands a break in the form of a so-called powerlessness. But that mustn't happen to André, because then the record doesn't count. His companions talk to him and check his condition. Then he gives the sign that he is fine! The new world record is set!

Now the fans are also cheering, who persevered on the bank despite the bad weather to support André and to be there live in the hunt for the record.

DAVOSA is proud to have supported André - together with brand ambassador Nik Linder - on the way to his record and is pleased that after his five years of "suffering" he has now "regained" his record.

Here is the SWR report from October 6th, 2020:

Many thanks to everyone involved in this project:

Apnea diver: André Grabs
Photos and graphics: Prof. Matthias Siebert, Günter Bugl, Karin Grabs
Training partner and DAVOSA ambassador: Nik Linder
Apnea diving club: AIDA Deutschland e.V.
record institute: World Record Company - Record Holders Republic^TM