Alexey Molchanov, just after emerging from another record-breaking freedive. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Freedivers are a different kind of crazy. A calculated kind. An educated kind. But crazy, at least to the casual viewer. Alexey Molchanov is a freediving world champion who makes even the non-casual viewer nervous. And on March 3, 2026, he set yet another world record by diving 299 feet on a single breath beneath the frozen surface of the deepest lake in the world.
Lake Baikal is in Siberia. It’s a beautiful place, but cold and hostile in the winter months. It’s thought to be the world’s oldest lake, as well as the deepest. At its deepest point, it’s 5,387 feet. Some 20 percent of the world’s fresh water is contained between its shores, and that water is exceptionally clear.
Molchanov has a ridiculous number of titles under his belt. Far too many to list here, but this particular record was set using a monofin. Temperatures at the surface of the lake were -9°F, while the water below the ice hovered around 35°F. The lake, as you’d expect from a lake in Siberia, was frozen solid, so divers entered and exited through a single hole in the ice.
Molchanov donned a 5mm wetsuit, strapped on a Molchanovs PRO Monofin 4X Carbon, and began his breathing exercises. He was there for the Third International Ice Freediving Festival, called “Under the Ice of Baikal,” held from March 1–6, 2026, in Listvyanka, Irkutsk Region, Russia.
“Preparation for under-ice records starts even before coming to the lake,” he said. It’s breath-hold training, a lot of pool work, and practicing with a monofin to be as efficient as possible.”
While it makes sense to some to get used to the cold as much as possible, Molchanov instead focused on technique, streamlining, and depth adaptation first. Only after he had those dialed in did he begin adapting to the cold. Freedivers generally don’t wear thick, bouyant wetsuits, but when diving under a frozen Siberian lake… well, there aren’t a lot of other options. He chose a 5mm over a 7mm suit and added only two kilograms of weights in an effort to streamline himself as much as possible.
On a single breath, Molchanov plunged into the icy depths, hit his mark, and returned safely to the surface — and with it, he brought up another world record.
