Martin Štěpánek has remained at the top of competitive freediving for the past 10 years setting the pace for the new generation of athletes. Running from October 03 until October 09, 2011 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, Martin will attempt to reset all current freediving depth World Records. The first discipline will be Constant Weight, also his specialty. With one breath and using only a monofin and mask, Martin will descend to the depth of 125 meters attempting to reclaim his title from Austrian, Herbert Nitch. He will follow this attempt with Constant weight no-fins and Free Immersion as he endeavor's to reclaim the world supremacy as the deepest man on earth.

Current World Records related to these disciplines are Constant Weight - 124m, Constant Weight no fins -101 meter and Free Immersion -120 meters.

Martin Stepanek's final preparation is to be conducted in the Red Sea in late September, 2011. Upon acclimatization, he will start tuning up for the final intended World Record depths. An integral part of the preparation phase and World Record attempts is maintaining the athlete's maximum safety underwater. For the whole duration of the event, the world's most elite technical divers will ensure the highest level of deep safety.  Lighthouse Dive Center, Egypt will be managing all SCUBA support logistics. The event will be   ratified by AIDA International official judges. The World Record Challenge is generously sponsored by XTB Online Trading and is under the aegis of F.I.I. (Freediving Instructors International). All information, photos and videos from the event and Martin's World Record attempts can be found exclusively on the special event website: www.stepanek2011.com.

Freediving, also known as breathhold diving or skin diving is when the athlete descends underwater on one breath of air without artificial assistance. Freediving roots are 2.500 years old having first been developed by pearl fishers and divers in the Southern Pacific.

The Freediving Disciplines :

Constant Weight - The freediver descends and ascends using his fins/monofin and/or with the use of his arms without pulling on the rope or changing his ballast; only a single grab of the rope to stop the descent is allowed. Constant weight is viewed as the holy grail of sportive freediving.

Free Immersion - The freediver dives without fins by utilizing the competition line during descent and ascent. Free immersion is the sportive depth discipline with the purest sensations, because of the speed of the water in the body, and the power of each pull on the rope as only means of propulsion. Performances could be done the head first during the descent, or feet first.

Constant weight no fins - The freediver descends and ascends underwater without the use of fins and without pulling on the rope. Constant weight without fins is the most difficult sportive depth discipline, because the divr is purely self propelled using only his muscle strength. This category needs a perfect coordination between propulsion movements, equalization, technique and buoyancy.

For more information:

David Čani

Freediving Instructors International

European Director

World Record Challenge Attempt Organizer

Tel.+420 777 250 714

Pavlouskova 4431, Ostrava 70800

E-mail: david@freedivinginstructors.com

Website: www.freedivinginstructors.com

Event Website: www.stepanek2011.com

DEMA (Dive Equipment & Marketing Association) hosted its annual dive trade show event at the Las Vegas Convention Center from Nov 17-20. With over 9000 dive industry professionals it was great to see the marked increase in show attendance from 2009. I hosted several seminars on “The Business of Freediving” in collaboration with AERIS and jumped in the pool for my (annual) Static Apnea demonstration where I completed a 7min breath-hold. You can check out some of the videos from the event below:

Martin Stepanek - DEMA Exhibition

We got a call from New Zealand Professional Wakeboarder & Freestyle surfer, Jeff Weatherall seeking breathhold training in preparation for Hawaii’s big wave season. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t on our side for open water training, but we did have four days of riotous fun running them through their paces training breathholds with high CO2 and heightened lactic acid levels. Jeff, his brother Greg and local pro surfer, Jessie Hellman walked away with raised confidence in their breathhold abilities and the immense mental challenges that lay ahead of them.

My favorite time of the year is heading back home to Kona, Hawaii. Annually we host a 7 day freediving camp there and this year we were incredibly lucky to have a pod of False Killer Whales pay us a visit. Although I am yet to fulfill my dream of swimming with Killer Whales, these guys made it very clear to us that they too were an apex predator and were very coolly unconcerned by our presence. This confidence made them interesting to observe as they casually shared a tuna between the pod. Maybe not the true Killer Whale, but equally impressive.

Martin Stepanek was recently awarded the title of "2009 Best Male Freediver" by ICARE (International Center for Apnea Recognition and Education).

The ICARE trophies have been awarded since 2003 and are based on public votes for nominations and elections. This is the second time Martin has been awarded this converted title of Best Male Freediver.

Sept 23, 09: The very much anticipated 2009 F.I.I. Freediving Liveaboard Adventure into the South Red Sea did not disappoint. Hosted by Martin Stepanek and his F.I.I. Team, the trip guided 18 freedivers of all levels to some of the most spectacular reef systems in the world. From gentle marine mammal interactions, exploring exhilarating underwater cavern systems, discovering the magic behind the legendary Elphinstone Reef and experiencing sled diving into the incredible crystal clear depths off the arid Marsa Alam coastline the 7 day trip was non-stop adventure aboard Lighthouse Dive Centers MV Miracle 1. Martin and his team would like to thank Jan Musil of Lighthouse Dive Center for his ongoing dedication to provide the utmost level of safety and conservation awareness in this delicate region. http://www.dahabdive.com

Sept 17, 09: After unsuccessful attempts of shuffling ongoing and growing personal and business commitments, Martin Stepanek has made the announcement he will not be attending the 2009 Freediving World Championships as a competitor. This is dissipointing forced play as Martin had high hopes of solidly defending his title as the deepest man in world during this competition from the likes of Austrian Freediver Herbert Nitch whom Martin took the title from in May 2009. His competitive goals now look towards 2010.

Stepanek plays instrumental role in development of new computer designed exclusively for freedivers.

AERIS has announced that world record setting freediver Martin Stepanek, has joined the AERIS product development and marketing team.

The culmination of discussions that has been underway for many months, this new agreement provides AERIS with important access to Stepanek for the development and the introduction of the F.10 free diving wrist computer.

"Martin is a phenomenal athlete and AERIS is fortunate to have someone with his skills, knowledge, expertise and desire join our team. More importantly, Martin showed us an area where freedivers could benefit from our advanced technology," said Doug Krause, AERIS Marketing Manager.

The F.10 freedive computer is in the final stages of development is slated for release in the next few weeks. Stepanek has used various versions of the F.10 in training and competition and will be very involved in the product�s upcoming launch.

For more details on the complete AERIS line of products, go to www.DiveAERIS.com

July 29th, 2009 - Every year A.I.D.A International hosts the Freediving Worlds Championships, they annually alternate between a Team World Championships and an Individual World Championships. For me, the Team World Championship has always had the most appeal. It's a different challenge as we are not merely relying on ourselves to perform for points, but two others, in a very individual sport. This year the Individual World Championships are being hosted literally in our backyard - the Bahamas. To qualify it is necessary to fall into the top 2 depth performances of the year from your nationality. Having already qualified for CWT, I was just lacking a CNF performance.

Knowing very well the Gulfstream can throw us some strong unpredictable currents, I was conservative and announced a 60 meter constant no fins performance. Luckily, we had some incredible weather and the temperamental Gulfstream played our game with little to no movement topside or down under. This performance was pure enjoyment of freediving. Completing my qualifying dive, the teacher/coach side quickly retuned to support my students as they nailed their first competition. An incredible experience on all levels and congratulations to Brett Scaglione, Vicente Cammarano and Ezequiel Goldberg for taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd place respectively!

The great image is provided by Miami based photographer/freediver Tim Calver www.timcalver.com www.blog.timcalver.com


Martin

23 MAY, 2009 - MARTIN STEPANEK NEW WORLD RECORD: 110 METERS/361 FEET IN 3:56 SECONDS

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22 MAY, 2009 - MARTIN STEPANEK NEW WORLD RECORD: 122 METERS/402 FEET IN 3:36 SECONDS

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Martin Stepanek claimed yet another world record in freediving today diving to 110 meters in the discipline of Free Immersion (FIM) with a total dive time of 3:56 seconds. This record was previously held by Austrian Freediver Herbert Nitch.
Hosted in Sharm El Sheikh, Martin's 2009 Sony Free Like No Other World Record Event is running from 22nd May - 30th May, made possible by the support of Sony Corporation Europe and Aquasoft and organized by Freediving Instructors International this world class event is bringing home world class results.

For more information, photographs and videos visit the event website www.freelikenoother.com

On May 22nd, 2009 Martin Stepanek set a new world record in Freediving to an incredible 122 meters/400 feet. This outstanding athletic achievement has reclaimed this man's position as the World's Deepest Freediver.

More information, photographs and underwater videos can be found on his 2009 Sony Free Like No Other event website www.freelikenoother.com

Dear Friends,



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All of my dives for this upcoming 2009 Sony World Record event are dedicated to our oceans preservation and awareness.


To support Oceana go to www.oceana.org and become a wavemaker.


Martin

Martin�s Training Heats up in Egypt


16th May, Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: After a somewhat slow start to on-site training Martin is now back on track as he sinks deeper towards his goal of 121 meters on one breath of air. The record attempts week will begin in five days; running from the 22nd May through till 30th May.

The Sony Team has now opened Martin�s training sessions to public spectators and everyone is welcome to visit the team in Sharm El Sheikh. For more information regarding daily training times and location Event Organizer David Cani can be contacted at david@freedivinginstructors.com

Daily updates are currently being posted on the Sony Free Like No Other Event website: www.freelikenoother.com

Martin Stepanek � 2009 Sony Free World Record Attempts - Like No Other


16TH April, 2009 - Martin Stepanek set his first world record in freediving back in 2001; hailing from the landlocked country of Czech Republic his astonishing performances have rocked the freediving community worldwide. From 2001 to 2009 he has set over 12 world records, consistently pushing out the boundaries of the predicted human capacity in this fascinating sport. It is without doubt, that as these records progressively get deeper, everyone is wondering: �Where are our limits?�� Well, Martin is ready to show us.

The anticipation for Martin�s record announcement has gained momentum after Austrian freediver Herbert Nitch recently took what he confessed as �a bit of a gamble� to achieve an impressive 120 meters in the extraordinary discipline of Constant Weight on 11th April, 2009 - 6 meters deeper than the previous 114 m record.

Martin has announced world record attempts in all three depth disciplines consisting of Constant Weight, Constant Weight without Fins and Free Immersion. These attempts will take place from 22nd May � 31st May, 2009 in the Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula.

The event team, sponsored by SONY, will be providing daily updates as we follow this courageous man as he embarks on yet another journey into Neptune�s abysmal depths attempting to reclaim his title as the worlds No.1. Freediver.

For more information keep an eye on www.freelikenoother.com