In the women’s A final, Natalia Molchanova of Russia set a third consecutive world record to take the gold medal–this time in Static Apnea–holding her breath for fantastic 9 minutes and 2 seconds; this was the first official women’s performance over nine minutes. Silver went to Veronika Dittes of Austria with 7 minutes and 44 seconds, and Gabriela Grezlova from Czech Republic took bronze with 6 minutes and 54 seconds. In yesterday’s Dynamic Apnea final the woman’s heat stole the show–with three performances exceeding the previous world record–but today the men’s final provided the drama. Goran Čolak of Croatia took gold with 8 minutes 59 seconds, and Giorgos Panagiotakis of Greece and Eugen Goettling of Austria surfaced simultaneously at 8 minutes 46 seconds to take the other two spots on the podium. Following AIDA International’s competition rules, silver was awarded to Giorgos based on his announced performance being longer than Eugen’s: by a single second. AIDA’s 2013 Pool World Championship concludes with four new world records, and seven performances over previous world records. Over 140 athletes from 24 countries competed in this event, making it AIDA’s largest pool world championship ever. Many thanks to the host and organizer AIDA Serbia for running such a successful and entertaining event!
Source: www.aidainternational.org
