Natalia Molchanova after her world record breath hold.
When it comes to free diving, Natalia Molchanova was the best in the world. But a few days ago, after she failed to resurface from a dive off the coast of Formentera, an island close to Ibiza, her family doesn’t expect that she’ll be found alive. She was 53.
The dive wasn’t especially deep for Molchanova–around 130 feet, more than 100 feet less than her deepest dive–but it would prove to be her last one. On the morning of the dive, along with three other divers, she pulled on a low buoyancy wetsuit made by a company she and her son, Alexey, started. She began her breathing exercises to lower heart rate, enabling her body to use oxygen more productively. She would never resurface.
Originally from Russia, Molchanova started off as a competitive swimmer. Twenty years after she quit the sport, she picked up free diving, and eventually went on to hold an incredible 41 world records and 23 world titles in different aspects of free diving. She held the world record for static apnea, which is simply holding one’s breath, with an astounding 9 minutes and 2 seconds. She swam 778 feet with a monofin on one breath, and dove to a depth of 233 feet in Egypt.
Normally, when diving for records, a line is used to guide the diver up and measure their depth. On Molchanova’s last dive, there was no line, as it was a recreational dive. According to the New York Times, the currents around the dive site “can be unpredictable and powerful.”
When she failed to return to the surface, her dive partners searched for a short period of time before calling the Coast Guard. They responded along with a helicopter, and continued to look for her until the sun set. That was on Sunday evening. By Tuesday, the search party included an underwater robot, but there was still no sign of her.
“The world has lost its greatest free diver,” Will Trubridge, who holds 15 world records, told the NYT. “I don’t think anybody would dispute that.” Trubridge had his own close call early last year.
After days of searching, it seems likely that Molchanova’s body may not be recovered. Her son, Alexey, seems to have accepted that. “It seems she’ll stay in the sea,” he said in the NYT article. “I think she would like that.”
Below is Molchanova’s world record dive to 101 meters.
