Claire Paris and Brady Bradshaw each set American women’s and men’s pool freediving records in the Dynamic with Bi-Fins discipline last weekend at the AIDA Tampa Bay Apnea Challenge event held at the Apollo Beach Racquet and Fitness Club.
On Saturday, May 8th, Paris swam a distance of 148 meters/486 feet. Her record dive took 2 minutes 21 seconds to complete.
The following day, Bradshaw swam a distance of 160 meters/525 feet. His record dive took 2 minutes and 52 seconds to complete.
This was Paris’ fifth USA national record. She holds the record in the discipline of Dynamic Apnea (DYN) using a monofin for a distance of 187 meters/ 613 feet at the 5th Annual South Florida Apnea Challenge event held in Miami in 2019. She has also held the USA national record in the pool discipline of Dynamic No Fins (DNF), swimming 128 meters/420 feet at the South California Apnea Challenge freediving competition held in Los Angeles in 2015.
According to Paris:
“This is a special one. After a year and a half training in difficult conditions, during the pandemic, with quarantine and no pools available, this record is very rewarding. I am grateful to Dr. Juani Valdivia-Valdivia for making this event possible. Seeing freediving friends after so long and breaking this record on Natalia Molchanova’s birthday, the greatest freediver of all time, made this extra special.”
As for Bradshaw, this is his first USA national record, and it surpasses the previous USA record of 158 meters/518 feet set April 6, 2019 by fellow USA athlete Adrian Gjurasic at the 2019 Singapore Open Pool Competition.
Bradshaw said:
“The energy of this competition was really nice. Cubans, Venezuelans, Americans, and Atlanteans all supported each other to do some amazing dives. Mutual inspiration was shared and I feel so grateful to just have had the opportunity to do some dives and be part of this community.”
