What drives a European security expert to hold his breath for six-and-a-half minutes while floating face-down in a Bristol swimming pool?

Is this the ideal weekend activity for the terminally lazy? Relax, take a deep breath and move as little as possible. The catch? You can’t breathe for several minutes while submerged in water. Welcome to the extreme sport of freediving – no oxygen tanks allowed here – you compete on just one breath.  Even the events sound like serious medical conditions. Static Apnoea, anyone?

Ask weekend visitors to Bristol what’s on their itinerary – it’s doubtful a competitive breath-holding contest ranks very highly. And it’s easy to see why. While diving in the tropics sounds idyllic, diving here conjures up nightmarish images of masked figures in wetsuits plunging headfirst into the Bristol Channel. Mercifully, participants at Bristol Blue 2025 competed in a heated pool at Hengrove Leisure Centre, although it’s unclear how added comfort makes voluntary drowning any more appealing.

Among the participants was Dr Cornelius Friesendorf, a specialist in security topics including guerilla warfare, organised crime, and Russian-Western relations. How does he square evaluating Russia’s war against Ukraine with participating in sporting events seemingly one-mistake away from killing him?

“Times are economically and politically difficult now, so freediving helps people to calm down and find inner peace,” he says.

A Boy from Bonn

He was born in 1973 in Bonn, then the Cold War capital of West Germany. His mother was a journalist, full of the 1968 revolutionary spirit. His father was an antiquities dealer specialising in Byzantine art and Russian religious icons.

“The Soviet authorities hated all religious art. They weren’t unhappy about it leaving the Soviet Union. There was a market in the Western countries. And then after the end of the Cold War, the Russian art went back with the oligarchs buying it.”

He spent summers spearfishing in the Mediterranean from a boat built for navigating the Bristol channel. “I started to love the water. And then I was scuba diving for 25 years and always loved snorkelling. But I did not know freediving existed as a sport. In 2011, I saw a course advertising it in Frankfurt and I’ve been doing it for 14 years now.”

Professionally, he’s a researcher with the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg. He’s writing a book on the obscure Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) which had its origins in the Cold War and has been struggling to survive Russia’s imperialism. What dangers does his work predict?

“The transatlantic relationship is broken, and it’s not only Trump. It’s a generational shift in the US. The Republican Party has turned into a very strange sect and preparing for major conflict with China. So, Europe from the US perspective, is a sideshow. Plus, Russia is trying to destroy what is left of the European security order.”

Is there any truth to the idea that the military and political alliances of today’s world look like those of 1914? “It’s an important analogy. In summer 2014 the Kaiser attempted to stop the troops but could not prevent the process from unfolding. We now see a similar risk of unwanted escalation. The major difference being no nuclear weapons at the time. Global annihilation is what’s really at stake.”

Holding your breath underwater is suddenly starting to look like a survival strategy. The same idea saved the crocodile from that asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

What’s the Appeal?

Cornelius is rightfully proud of his sport and makes it clear freediving isn’t for adrenaline junkies and reckless thrill-seekers. Competitors try to reduce their heart rate, being as relaxed as possible before getting in the water as vigorous activity burns that single lungful of precious air.

He says the macho-types quickly become unstuck: “Suddenly they get all these thoughts and fears of not being able to hold their breath like a true hero. Often people who seemed a little quieter or insecure do very well.”

Is that because of introversion? He says: “It’s more that freediving teaches us to accept our fears, and our limitations. To overcome you must first accept them and embrace them.”

“Freediving really teaches us to be humble when we dive to greater depth. If we have an ego and we flex the muscles and try to get to the target depth, it won’t work. You’ll injure yourself.”

While people like the Japanese Ama had no alternative when they dived for valuable shells and pearls, hasn’t holding your breath been unnecessary since Cousteau and Gagnan invented scuba? 

“While holding the breath, you’re focusing inward. You’re faced with yourself, with your thoughts, with your bodily reactions. And in scuba diving, some people use the derogatory term ‘underwater tourists’, you have a tank, and you look around, you’re trying to spot animals.”

He says freediving may never be an Olympic sport as people don’t always look telegenic when they emerge from the depths. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) clearly likes to minimise televised fatalities. A lot of people blackout and have squeezes – when the external water pressure injures the lung. He says: “It’s something you never do alone, even in a bathtub. When people lose consciousness alone in the water, they drown.” He emphasises mutual safety is always a priority. 

Bristol Blue

“I always love visiting the UK, because people are so friendly. You get back to Germany, everybody is grumpy and pessimistic.

“But I was also shocked about the difference between rich and poor. It seems even starker than on the continent. It reminded me of the movies of Ken Loach or even some of the stories of George Orwell when he was a tramp.”

He says the Bristol event was very well-organised: “One of the best I’ve ever been to. The UK has a very nice freediving community – a very nice atmosphere.”

“The first day was diving as far as possible without fins. My result was 114 meters, well below my personal best. In the evening, I suddenly realized that when you don’t drink enough water, the heart rate goes up because the blood is thicker, so that the heart needs to pump harder or faster, so I drink more.

“The second day was trying to hold your breath as long as possible. Suddenly, I did a personal best of six minutes, thirty-one. I could have probably done seven minutes.  And this is all thanks to better hydration.”

Limits

Are there upper and lower age limits for anyone wanting to start? “My daughter, she is nine now. She dives to seven meters. There’s one person I’ve heard about, he’s over 70, and he dives to 80 meters. It’s a very nice sport that can be done at higher age.”

After the Lia Thomas controversy, do men and women compete separately? “We do, but there are many excellent female freedivers. The constant weight world record for women at depth is 123 meters. The male world record is 136.”

If Putin and Trump don’t destroy the world, what’s the future of freediving? “We will see even more impressive performances in the pool. Someday people might dive 400 meters. For one breath hold, static apnoea, the record is 11 minutes 35. At depth, decompression sickness has become a game changer. Several top athletes have suffered from nitrogen bubbles in the bloodstream. So, I think this should lead to more caution and possibly limiting the depths that people can or should go to.”

And personally? “Like any freediver, I want to a dive to 100 meters. I’m not sure that I’ll do it. I have two kids. I have a full-time job. I’m fifty-one years old. I also don’t want to kill myself. I’ve done 91-meters in competitions.

“So, I’m less focused on results. Now I’m trying to do it the Buddhist way and enjoy the process.”