DUBAI // Freediving champion Branko Petrovic will be depending as much on mental discipline as physical when he tries to break the Guinness World Record for the longest underwater breath-hold on Friday.
Petrovic, 28, arrived in Dubai on Saturday after six months preparation. To succeed he needs to stay submerged for longer than 11 minutes 35 seconds, the current record set in 2009 by Stephane Mifsud, of France.
Petrovic, who claims to have a personal best of 12 minutes, is likely to come within seconds of success or failure at the Spearo Expo 2014 at the Skydive Dubai Palm Island Drop Zone.
“In my physical shape, I am confident,” says the Serb, who discovered the sport through spearfishing at the age of nine and is the Fazza freediving champion. “The important part is mental conditioning.”
Holding his breath while floating motionless in a swimming pool, Petrovic practises static apnoea, one of several internationally recognised freediving disciplines.
His physical abilities have even attracted the attention of scientists at the Vienna University of Technology, who, in 2012, tested his body’s reactions to oxygen deprivation.
At the heart of freediving is the ability to inhale as much air as possible and use oxygen efficiently.
For the latter, an ability to slow one’s heart rate is important.
While in average, healthy people, the heart beats between 60 to 100 times a minute, Petrovic has been able to slow his heart to just 28 beats.
This means the pressure of the blood in his arteries is off the charts at 300 by 200, a value that forced doctors to stop the experiment.
Besides a vigorous physical training regime, he relies on visualisation to control his body’s instinct to breathe.
In the beginning of a breath hold, he tries to relax completely to preserve his body’s oxygen reserves.
“You have to be happy during your attempt,” Petrovic says. “In the first phase, what makes me happy is spearfishing, imagining I am waiting for a fish.”
The second phase, which in an average person occurs between the second and the fourth minute, is what Petrovic refers to as the struggling phase.
Due to years of practice it is not before the sixth minute that he begins to experience the symptoms. “It feels as if you are running, your muscles are producing a lot of lactic acid and carbon dioxide is building up,” he says.
This is when he visualises rewards – his favourite brand of soft drink or going out with friends in Dubai for mandi, a traditional dish of rice and meat. “After that, I sometimes imagine some face that makes me happy,” Petrovic says. “It is not important whose face, it is just a face that makes me happy and in the end, if I really find myself struggling, I just pray to God to help me achieve my goal.”
In the last minutes of a breath hold, oxygen levels are so low that staying awake is an effort. He compares the sensation to that of hypothermia. “You are fine but feel so sleepy and so tired and time is passing really fast, so you need to have extremely good safety. You can lose your consciousness if you push too far.”
To stay safe, Petrovic will be relying on a local freediving instructor Yousef Al Khaja, who will be in the pool during the record attempt. Unlike in competitions, where only one attempt is allowed, the Guinness World Record allows for several tries.
Petrovic will warm up for nearly an hour, holding his breath for increasingly long periods before the attempt. He will most probably aim for a time of 11 mins 36 secs, ensuring he sets the record. If he is successful, he will try again for a breath hold of 12 minutes or longer.
If he breaks the record, Petrovic will be awarded Dh120,000 by the Kemos Group, whose chief executive Mohammed Al Khayat is a passionate freediver.
vtodorova@thenational.ae
