- Source: Herbert Nitsch
Herbert Nitsch (born 20 April 1970) is an Austrian freediver, the current freediving world record champion, and "the deepest man on earth" having dived to a depth of 253.2 meters (831 feet).
Nitsch has held 34 world records in all of the eight freediving disciplines recognised by AIDA International and one in the traditional Greek discipline of Skandalopetra.
Competitive freediving
Nitsch has held the world record in at least six AIDA-recognised events: Variable Weight, Constant Weight, Static Apnea, Dynamic Apnea, Free Immersion and Dynamic apnea without fins.
= Dynamic Apnea
=Nitsch's Dynamic Apnea record of 183 m set in 2002, was bested by 40 m by Tom Sietas. Women's champion, Natalia Molchanova of Russia, has also swum further than 200 m.
Sietas also holds the Dynamic apnea without fins record at 183 m, beating Nitsch's 2001 distance of 134 m by almost 50 m.
= Constant Weight
=Nitsch also held the world record in the Constant Weight event, which is considered by many to be the classic free-diving discipline: the diver descends next to a line, not using the line and unaided by a sled, and must maintain a constant weight, meaning that no weight can be dropped for the return to the surface.
Nitsch exceeded the then world record depth in 2006 when he dived to a depth of 110 m (361 ft), but failure to complete the strict surfacing protocols within the allotted time meant that the dive was disqualified.
In Hurghada, Egypt, in December 2006, he set a Constant Weight World Record dive of 111 m (364 ft), exceeding Guillaume Néry's previous record by 2 m. Later in 2007, he also set the Constant Weight (No Fins) record during The Triple Depth in Dahab, Egypt, and went on to push the Constant record to 112 m (367 ft) during the World Championships in Sharm. Herbert also won the AIDA Individual World Championships.
His record of 66 m (217 ft) for Constant Weight without fins, set in 2004, was beaten by 14 m in 2005 by Czech free-diver, Martin Štěpánek, who was also the holder of the Free Immersion record of 106 m (348 ft); Nitsch recorded 100 m (328 ft) in September 2003, but his record was bettered by a dive of 101 m by Carlos Coste of Venezuela in October the same year and then twice improved upon by Štěpánek.
= Static Apnea
=Nitsch set a time of 9 mins 4 secs for the world Static Apnea record in December 2006 when he held his breath underwater in a swimming pool in Hurgada, a time that was beaten by 4 secs in 2007 by Tom Sietas of Germany.
= Free immersion and variable weight
=During the 2009 Vertical Blue competition at the Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas in April, Nitsch set the Free Immersion world record at 109 m (358 ft). He also established two subsequent world record dives in Constant Weight at 114 m (374 ft), and 120 m (394 ft) on the last day of the competition, beating by 6 m the previous record that he had set a few days earlier. He used his arms only in the last 40 m (131 ft) of this ascent, with a total dive time of 3:58.
Later that same year in December at the Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas, Nitsch broke three world records: Variable Weight at 142 m (466 ft); Free Immersion at 112 m (367 ft); and Constant Weight at 123 m (404 ft).
= Retirement
=During his last competition before retiring from competitive freediving, in April 2010 at Vertical Blue again at the Dean's Blue Hole in Bahamas, Nitsch set another three world records. He landed two subsequent ones in Free Immersion at 114 m (374 ft) and 120 m (394 ft), and a world record in Constant Weight at 124 m (407 ft).
Nitsch focused solely on the "No Limit" events after this, in which the record attempts fall outside of regulated competition.
'No Limits' diving
Nitsch holds the No-Limits record and the title of "Deepest man on Earth" in which the diver can make use of a weighted sled to descend as far as possible and uses an air-filled balloon or other buoyancy device to return to the surface.
= World record
=Nitsch set the world record in Spetses, Greece in June 2007 when he descended to 214 m (702 ft), beating his own record of 183 m (600 ft) set the previous year.
= Later attempt and serious injury
=In 2012, Nitsch returned to the "No Limit" category in the waters off Santorini, Greece, with a project labeled "Extreme 800", aiming for a depth of 244 m (801 ft).
Following extensive training using an innovative torpedo-type sled design of very high descend and ascend speed, on 6 June 2012, Nitsch managed to reach a depth of 253.2 meters (831 ft), a Guinness World Record, but ten minutes after the dive he began experiencing serious symptoms of decompression sickness. Nitsch temporarily fell asleep due to nitrogen narcosis during the last part of the ascent (as opposed to through oxygen starvation), and woke up prior to reaching the surface. Following a planned post-dive decompression, breathing medical oxygen at a shallow depth, he signaled to his support team that he felt much weaker than normal and his condition was assessed as critical enough to require an air transfer to a pre-alerted decompression chamber in Athens, where he received treatment. He incurred multiple brain strokes due to severe decompression sickness. He subsequently received extensive decompression treatment in Germany.
The initial prognosis was that he would need home care and be unable to walk without assistance. However, through extensive rehabilitation, he made a strong recovery. He still has balance and coordination problems on land, but does not experience them underwater. He continues to deep free-dive.
Other career
Nitsch also worked part-time as a pilot for Tyrolean Airways.
Awards and honors
The asteroid 295471 Herbertnitsch, discovered by Italian amateur astronomer Vincenzo Casulli in 2008, was named in his honor. The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 27 August 2019 (M.P.C. 115895).
Official records
Nitsch remains to date the only person that achieved world records across all of AIDA's eight freediving disciplines, in addition to the one he had set in the Greek discipline of Skandalopetra.
72m = AIDA Lake Record; after 2001-12-31 AIDA International no longer separated the records achieved in a lake from those in the sea.
Personal bests
Filmography
Documentaries and TV
2017: Herbert Nitsch, The Deepest Man On Earth, by UPROXX – Video on YouTube
2016: Supertalent Mensch: Körperbeherrscher, by Terra X – Video on YouTube
2013: Back from the Abyss / Züruck as der Tiefe, the multiple award-winning documentary by Red Bull Media House - Trailer Back from the Abyss: Video on Vimeo and Video on YouTube
2012: La Dernière Frontière, by Camera Lucida - Video on YouTube
2011: The man who can hold his breath for nine minutes – Inside the Human Body: First to Last, by BBC One- Video on YouTube
2009: Apnoetauchen: Neun Minuten ohne einen Atemzug, by Focus Online – Video on YouTube
2009: Stefan Raab by TV Total Video on Vimeo
2009: Aeschbacher by SRF Video on Vimeo
Publicity
2017: Hyundai Fuel Cell Car Unveiling, by Hyundai - Video on Vimeo and Video on YouTube
2011: Extreme 800, by Breitling - Video on YouTube
References
External links
Personal website - "Herbert Nitsch - The Deepest Man on Earth". Archived from the original on 26 January 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
TED Talk - "Herbert Nitsch presenting a TED talk in Vienna in November 2010". YouTube. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013.