Apnea diving

Christian Redl: World record with 55 breaths

For extreme sportsman and world record holder Christian Redl, Lake Neufeld is his apnea territory.

(Bild: Grammer Karl/Karl Grammer)

Five apnea divers venture to the absolute deepest point in the world's oceans. Their aim is not only to set a new record, but also to make a strong statement. The background.

It's hard to believe that a person can hold their breath for seven minutes. Most people would go black in the face after half that time at the latest. But experienced apnea divers can do it for even longer. Christian Redl knows only too well how best to trick his own body.

Nine world records
With just a few breaths, he set nine world records in alternative freediving disciplines by 2013 alone, three of which still stand up to the competition today. The apnea diver (48) from Lower Austria feels right at home on Lake Neufeld in Burgenland. The water, which is up to 35 meters deep, is his training ground.

As soon as time permits, he trains underwater without air.

(Bild: Grammer Karl/Karl Grammer)

Mariana Trench as an adventure
There will be a sensational change in the summer bathing idyll on Friday. A world record attempt in deep diving will be made on Lake Neufeld. Redl and four other apnea luminaries will set out together to conquer the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean at a depth of almost 11,000 meters - symbolically, of course. Tomorrow, the quintet will make 55 dives per diver to a depth of 20 meters and back up again. Everyone is hoping that the tricky calculation of five divers x 55 dives x 40 meters per trip will work out.

"If everything goes according to plan, we'll get 11,000. That would mean that we have conquered the Mariana Trench to the deepest point and achieved the unattainable," notes Redl. The rule is that only one freediver may be underwater at any one time. The five athletes have five hours and 30 minutes to complete all 275 dives correctly - a difficult undertaking.

Now they have to make 55 dives per diver to a depth of 20 meters and back up again.

(Bild: Grammer Karl/Karl Grammer)

Fighting more and more plastic waste
With the "Trench" project, the apnea quintet is aiming for an entry in the RID book (Record Institute Germany). At the same time, the freedivers want to draw attention to the fact that plastic waste is already floating around even at the deepest point of our oceans. "We will send out a strong signal," announce Redl and his non-profit organization "7 Oceans".