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IN THE ARCTIC


ANT


IT TAKES A CERTAIN KIND OF PERSON TO WANT TO BREAK A WORLD RECORD. THEY NEED COURAGE, DETERMINATION, RESILIENCE, AND IN SLIGHTLY LOWER DOSES, A BRAZEN DISREGARD FOR CONVENTION. JUST ASK ANT WILLIAMS, MORE


COMMONLY KNOWN AS ‘THE ICE GUY’ WORDS: JAMES EVANS


44 | AUTUMN 2019 | ONBOARD


I


n March 2019, freediver and sports psychologist Ant Williams travelled all the way up from his home in Melbourne, Australia, to the Arctic Circle. It was a 8,000-mile journey that would see him attempt to break Konstantin Novikov’s world record for the furthest any person had ever ventured down below the ice, with just fins and a diving suit for company.


In 2015, the Russian had taken himself down to a depth of 213ft in freezing conditions off the coast of Norway. At the time, the adventurer stated that his dive had left him bewildered and afraid, and that he believed he had achieved a depth at which his record would not be broken for a long time.


“I think the point about world records is they’re just there to be broken,” says Williams. “It is someone stating categorically that ‘this is it’, and challenging you to prove them, and sometimes yourself, wrong!”


Preparations for Williams’ world record attempt were good. He and his team went to Lake Taupo in New Zealand to undergo depth tolerance training and also spent time in Scandinavia with Finnish legend Johanna Nordblad.


“I have been diving for 17 years and I’ve had five previous failed world record attempts,” says Williams, 47, “so I knew the processes and the way things come together in your head.


“I think the expectation with most records in the eyes of the public, is that the person will achieve it, otherwise why are they even going for it. Of course, the reality is it’s not all as straightforward as people think. For the ice dive, from almost the second you start, you are in total darkness. Temperatures are unbelievably cold and all the time you are aware that even at surface level there is a metre of ice separating you from safety.”


Williams admits there is nothing to prepare body and mind for the physical and psychological challenges that confront an ice diver. “When you take the plunge into icy water and venture down it is, in my opinion, one of the most incredible feelings of isolation you could feel, anywhere on Earth.”


By the time of the dive on 27th March 2019, Williams believed he was in the right place, physically and mentally, to attempt the dive. Weather conditions around the Kirkenes area of the Norwegian fjords had been far from perfect – the group even encountered two car accidents in the lead-up to the dive. However, despite water temperature measuring 0.2 degrees C, the adventurer succeeded in making the deepest ice dive by any human. Tethered to a rope all the way, the final depth of 229.6ft was achieved in a time recorded at just under two-and-a-half minutes.


“It took much longer and was much harder than I expected,” he admits. “And yes, I had some wobbles down there – it was a really tough thing to try to come to terms with as I was diving down. Everything is screaming for you to stop, but the sense of elation at the end was incredible. It was a great thing for me, obviously, but also for the whole team who have invested so much in this project. It was a celebration for all of us.”


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