Daily Highlights DNF- Day2-June 21
Results of the second competition day
June 22nd in Burgas was the second competition day of the 28th AIDA World Championship.Athletes competed in Dynamic Without Fins (DNF).
The very first dive of the day became the furthest dive of the day among all the competitors, including the male AIDA World Champion. Julia Kozerska of Poland swam 209m (686ft), setting a new AIDA World Record in DNF and winning the gold medal. It is perhaps the first time a woman set an absolute record for the day at the World Championship in a dynamic discipline. In STA, Natalia Molchanova also outdid the men in the 2013 Individual AIDA Pool World Championships.
As expected, the silver medal and Vice-Champion title went to another Polish athlete, Magdalena Solich-Talanda. Being an ex-world record holder in DNF with 207m (679ft), Magdalena decided not to push her limits this time and confidently completed her dive to 180m (591ft).
It also was no surprise to see Kateryna Sadurska of Ukraine winning the bronze medal. Katerina is quickly improving her official personal bests (PBs) and national records from one competition dive to the other, and this time she swam a distance of 171m (561ft) without fins. Congratulations to all the women on their beautiful dives - it was a pleasure to watch your performances!
However, for the men, this Championship continues to be an unlucky one. On the second day, even those who held strong on the first day gave up. It may be the result of long protests and the related disappointment - either way, none of the men managed to show their true potential and perform at full capacity. The World Champion in DYNB of the previous day, Petar Klovar of Croatia, blacked out after 172m (564ft). Then his teammate, David Čustić, swam 176m (577ft); however, similar to the first day, he did not successfully complete the surface protocol. As a result, both athletes received red cards and were disqualified.
Ming Jin (William Joy) of China, whose PB in DNF is 206m (676ft), hardly managed with 153m (502ft) distance. On the previous competition day in DYNB, William also performed 53m (174ft) less than his personal best of 276m (906ft) in the discipline. This is not looking good for the athlete - we are hoping he is not becoming ill.
It seems that only Guillaume Bourdila of France lived up to his potential for the gold medal. Guillaume swam alone at the very end of the day, so we had the chance to see his dive from start to surface protocol - it was a beautiful and relaxed dive. From the moment he was scheduled to dive, Guillaume already knew the results of his competitors; therefore, he did not have a good reason to swim much further than 185m (607ft) to become the AIDA World Champion in DNF. Guillaume completed his dive at 193m (633ft) and received the gold medal and the title. It's excellent to see that the athlete was not discouraged after disappointing penalties on the first day and that he managed to correct his mistake on the turns and stay focused on the end result. Congratulations, Guillaume, on the well-deserved victory!
The silver and bronze medals eventually went to two Polish athletes, Karol Karcz and Michał Bochenek, who both performed dives of 185m (607ft) and 159m (522ft), respectively. Both athletes are ranked 43 and 42 in the world for DNF, so they were not very obvious contenders for the medals. But even in pool freediving, the motto "do what you can do, and let it be what it should be" seems to be a working winning strategy. Congratulations to Karol and Michał!
During the second day of the Championship, athletes performed 67 dives in total and earned 54 white cards. The next day, June 22nd, is a rest day at the Championship. We hope all the athletes, judges, and safeties will have enough rest before the second part of the Championship and have plenty of energy to surprise us with outstanding performances. Stay tuned!