Free Diver Breaks Record with 120-Meter Dive
Arnaud Jerald loves to be underwater. He says it's where he finds peace.
But Jerald doesn't just swim, he dives. And he doesn't just dive, he dives deep: very deep — more than 100 meters down.
The 26-year-old Frenchman is a free diver. In August 2022 he broke a world record, diving 120 meters below the surface during a competition in the Bahamas.
Free diving is a sport in which participants hold their breath underwater for many minutes at a time. There are a number of ways of doing it, with different techniques and equipment affecting the difficulty of the task.
Jerald's record was in a category in which divers may use a pair of fins to help them.
A video shows him swimming head-first down through the water, next to a rope that helps him find his way.
The rules allow him to only touch the rope for a moment as he turns and rises back to the surface.
He was underwater for more than 3.5 minutes, but looked relaxed as he returned to the Caribbean sun.
Men and women in other free diving categories have dived deeper and for longer, often putting their health at risk in a sport that can be extremely dangerous.
In 2012, Herbert Nitsch, from Austria, dived down 253 meters with the help of special weights.
But he lost consciousness on his way back up, and would spend months in hospital, unable to walk. He still has balance problems years later.
