Rachel Novak was the voice and commentator on the DiveEye live stream from Belgrade, and she will return to Europe to take up the post for the Outdoor Worlds in Kalamata. It is great having someone so professional and with such knowledge around the sport to guide us through the competition.

The CMAS Indoor World Championships took place from July 6th, 2024 to July 10th, 2024, attracting all the indoor freediving top athletes from around the world. This year, we had the largest team in history representing the US at the Indoor World Championships with 6 members: Claire Paris, Natalie Bruce, Anastasia Tajik, Eric Cintra, Brady Bradshaw and Evan Walther.  Take a look here to learn how the team performed at the World Championships. We have some new World and National Records from the US Team!!

The 2024 US National Team comprises of athletes who will be representing the United States at both 2024 CMAS World Championships. The Indoor World Championships will be held from July 5th to the 10th in Belgrade, Serbia. The Outdoor World Championships will be held in the Mediterranean Sea in the month of October. Here is a list of the athletes that have been selected to represent the United States.

Over the last weeks, both Dr. Juani Valdivia (Medical Director for the USFF) and Lance Davis (Team Captain 2023) have met to organize the position of the USFF around incidences of blackouts/LMS/LS, how to grade them and when it could be safe to return to diving.

The CMAS World Championships took place this year in Roatan, Honduras with Esteban Darharnpe as the official organizer. This was the 2nd time the World Championship took place in Roatan as a break from Kas, Turkey. The US National Team was strong in numbers and performance and marks the largest team that the US Freediving Federation has ever sent to the CMAS World Championships.

Over the last two months, CMAS International has taken a lead position on this doping matter by suspending a few athletes who tested positive. While the suspensions given are provisional and subject to further investigation, it is a step forward to help keep freediving a clean sport.

The US Freediving Federation will not tolerate anything less than a clean sport and it expects its athletes, as well as those across the world, to hold themselves to the highest standards of sport to keep the game fair for all. Anything less than is unacceptable.

With the US Freediving Federation experiencing tremendous membership growth in the last two years, it is necessary to expand the leadership community to support that growth and help guide the evolution of freediving in the United States. “Based on the background of Rebekah and her pursuit in the sport, she was the obvious choice to bring onboard to the organization as the Technical Director”, said Jeremy Stephan, Founder/Executive Director of the USFF. “Rebekah has shown nothing but passion for freediving and has helped to nurture a number of freedivers in northern California.”

December 1 - 3, 2023 marks the dates for the 2023 “UNU” Tampa Bay Freediving Challenge event which is being organized by Jani Valdivia. The event is being held at the HIGH 5 Pool  located in Brandon, Florida, just outside Tampa.  This event will serve as the US Nationals for both the US Freediving Federation (CMAS) and USA Freediving (AIDA).

This year marks the 3rd time that the United States has Athletes participating in the CMAS World Championships of Freediving. The event which is held in the idyllic Mediterranean seaside town of Kas, Turkey from October 1 - 9th brings participants from more than 30 countries where athletes compete for depth records in four (4) freediving disciplines. “Not only will the USFF have 14 total athletes attending, but the team make-up is 8 athletes under the age of 50 in the senior category, and 6 athletes in the 50+ master category which is a 233% increase over 2021” said Jeremy Stephan, President of the US Freediving Federation. “This year’s team is made up of some of the best depth freedivers from across the United States.”

Since having been launched in March of 2018, the last 12 months have provided the US Freediving Federation (USFF) with tremendous growth from the freediving community across the US. The pandemic and the economy has caused people to re-evaluate what is important in life, focus more on themselves and get connected to the environment.

To support this growth and strengthen the USFF, a few appointments will be taking place over the next month with the first one being Dr. Juan Valdivia as the Medical Director. 

The USFF is proud to announce "Team United States" for the CMAS World Indoor Freediving Championships." The championships will be held in Belgrade, Serbia from the 10-16th of June, 2022. This is the 2nd year the United States is represented and it comes with 300% growth in participation.

The guidelines below have been established to provide clarity on eligibility and the selection process for the US National Team in either indoor or outdoor.

The first US Freediving Federation (USFF) and World Confederation of Underwater Activities (CMAS) sanctioned freediving depth competition in the continental United States has been officially announced and is a go! The invitational competition, Vertical Green 2022, will run May 14th - 15th, 2022 in the cold and deep waters of the Redondo Submarine Canyon in Redondo Beach, California, USA.

The Bar ‘Inched’ Higher in US Women’s Freediving.

Specifically, about 39 inches (1 meter). Katie Kleinwachter, the freediver out of Illinois, has pushed all three United States records in women’s dynamic freediving further in the first quarter of 2022 - two of them by approximately just 1 meter.

The beautiful and idyllic Honaunau Bay, home to the upcoming 2021 Hawai’i Cup in October, was the stage for back to back national records for two Masters this past weekend.

Masters Annabel Edwards and Jennifer Brant made the history books by establishing the first national records in the 50+ category for two disciplines each.

Two months before Erwan Le Corre turns 50 and starts to compete in the Masters category, he bested 31 year old Christopher Funada’s static record by a whopping 44 seconds. Erwan has proven that it’s not about age but rather mindfulness in achieving a new Men’s national record for the US Freediving Federation.

130 athletes from 26 countries convened in Belgrade, Serbia from 21 – 27 June for the 11th CMAS Indoor Freediving World Championship, and for the first time in history, the United States was among the participating countries.

The road to expansion is dotted with landmarks. It’s a historic time for US Freediving, as the federation strong in depth begins to expand to Indoor (time and distance).

2021 promises to be an epic year with many firsts for this young federation. Of note: June 21st-27th in Belgrade, Serbia, the United States will make its debut appearance at a CMAS Indoor World Championship.

Last weekend in Tampa Florida at the Apollo Beach Racquet & Fitness Club, Juani Valdivia held the Tampa Bay Apnea Challenge - UNU Pool Competition. This was a joint rules event meaning that athletes could announce their performances under either CMAS or AIDA rules. Once they make that announcement, all performances are done under that set of rules.

Both CMAS and AIDA oversee competitions and have their own set of rules. In general the rules are very similar, but athletes are responsible for knowing the rules of the agency overseeing their performance.

April 2021 will go down in the history books thanks to Melissa Ponder and Chris Funada. The wunderkinds targeted their sites on setting national United States Freediving (USFF) records as well as CMAS world records, and that’s exactly what they did.

Proud to announce that we will be holding the first freediving pool competition which will be officially judged under both AIDA and CMAS rules. Additionally, this is the first time that a freediving pool competition is being held in the United States under CMAS rules.

Are you an AIDA judge, or have aspirations of being a judge for open water (salt & fresh water) and indoor freediving competitions?

With the world starting to open back up and freediving on the rise more now than ever, the US Freediving Federation will be holding judge courses over the next few months. In order to be able to support this growth for those that want to extend their freediving experience, we need to create a national network of judges to enable competitions and record attempts.

On the heals of achieving his variable weight national record in the salty Pacific Ocean off the Bay of Honaunau, Hawaii, Chris earns a national record for Men’s Static. The official record, as recorded by USFF/CMAS Judges Annabel Edwards, Brian Kispert and Jenifer Brant, was 6 minutes and 2 seconds.

It was a fitting weekend that Chris Funada chose Valentine’s weekend to show his love for the ocean and freediving by setting two national records for the Variable Weight discipline.

US Freediving Federation’s (USFF) Team America wrapped up an outstanding performance at the 2019 World Freediving Championships in Roatan, Honduras last weekend, where they competed against top freedivers from 30 countries.

Results from Roatan 2019 CMAS 4th Freediving Outdoor World Championship August 6th to 11th.

Results from Roatan 2019 CMAS 4th Freediving Outdoor World Championship August 6th to 11th.

Jessea will be the first freediver in history from China to compete at a CMAS World Championships. 2019 marks the first year China will be a member of CMAS much like 2018 was the first year for the United States. We wish Jessea the best of luck in Roatan 2019 and congratulate her! Enjoy her story. Get to know her, and we hope that you find a nugget of inspiration from Jessea’s story.