rolling in the deep
FREEDIVING WORLD RECORD HOLDER ALEXEY MOLCHANOV ON A LIFETIME EXPLORING NEW DEPTHS OF HUMAN ENDURANCE WORDS: RICHARD ALDHOUS
42 | AUTUMN 2018 | ONBOARD
the action over 700 million times. It is, in the simplest of ways, what we do.
B
So imagine suppressing that overriding urge to breathe, in fact, no need to imagine, because we all know the sensation… a sense of yearning to inhale, a desperation and fear. We’ve all done it… in the pool, in the sea, or just at home, for ‘fun’. You would imagine a competitive freediver has to counter that panic emotion regularly, yet Alexey Molchanov, world record holder and poster boy for one of the fastest-growing marine leisure pursuits, rarely experiences it. “I’m at the level where the discomfort feels normal,” he tells ONBOARD, smirking slightly. “I’ve been doing this for so long, training for so long, that I’m at a consistent place whether at the start or the end of my dive, where I’m so focused on centring myself and the task in hand, that nothing interrupts that.”
Molchanov’s achievements in water are unparalleled, inspired to dive and explore water from the youngest possible age by his late mother Natalia, herself a prolific Russian freediver, multiple world record holder, and former president of the Russian Free Dive Federation. “A lot has come from my mother and I will always have that,” he says. “She was the first to teach me about the techniques we need to use for diving and we swam together on every continent. I have perfected a few things over time, but she was the first to explain to me that so much of what we do is in the mind, not just the body.
“A massive part is defocusing attention, so trying not to look at one point around you,” he continues. “When you are not being attentive to what’s around you it allows your senses to be more focused on what’s inside you; it enables you to keep your mind empty.”
Now, at 31, Alexey is forging his own path – this year alone he has been OriginECN Vertical Blue 2018 championships winner, and extended his own 130m constant weight monofin and 125m free immersion world records.
The ability Molchanov has to marry incredible levels of physical endurance, which require him to hold his breath for almost four minutes at a time, with mental resilience is what keeps him coming back. “It’s a drug that you don’t want to relinquish,” he says. “I’ve always had a love affair with swimming and the ocean, it feels such a natural place to be.”
Molchanov encourages his followers to apply the breathing techniques to their everyday lives in the combating of stress and tension. “When I tell people freediving is very good for stress management in the office, they look at me in a strange way, but it is true, to the point where holding your breath for long periods can actually be enjoyable.”
“In the way we prepare for a dive, tidal or shallow breathing techniques are so important. I want to keep carbon dioxide in my system in my body so before I go under my breathing is very calm and there are no big intakes of breath. This has been a big thing in freediving over recent years, because
reathing, they say, is the human body’s ultimate involuntary reflex. We perfect it from the very second we are born, and in an average lifespan will repeat
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204
