Finally, we in Freediving Team Åland have been to our first freediving World Championship! It was a great and interesting experience for everyone in our team to go to Maribor in Slovenia to meet the world elite of freedivers. Here you may read about what happened and what we experienced there:
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Day 1 (30.06.2007)
Peter, Johan and Anders went with the evening ferry from Mariehamn to Kapellskär in Sweden. On the bus to Stockholm we met Nikolaos Pizanias, that had studied for a while on Åland, but now was moving back to Sweden. He saw that we carried freediving fins so he asked if anyone of us were Daniel Flöjt. He said that Daniel had been in contact with him to get some text translated from swedish to greek, and that Nikolaos mother had helped him. He also said that his father, who was from Greece, was one of the first men in Greece that started freediving and spearfishing.
We also spoke with a gentleman who claimed to be some sort of a CEO at the swedish railway "SJ", and that he was interested to sponsor us, since we explained to him that it is pretty hard for freedivers in general to get sponsors, mostly because freediving isn't a well known sport.
When we arrived to Stockholm in the night, we went out to Burger King and everyone had a burger. After that it was time to get back to our hotel at Odenplan to get some sleep.
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Day 2 (01.07.2007)
Daniel, who had gone to Sweden a few days eariler to visit some relatives, met us very early in the morning outside our hotel. We got a taxi and went to the Arlanda airport. 
There we met up with Peter Boivie, who gave the impression of beeing a little bit nervous but calm and humble man.
We boarded the plane and went to Vienna. On the airplane we spoke to a very nice and pretty flight attendant, by the name Theresa, about freediving. She was a scuba diver, and seemed to have some experience, so she had a lot of questions about how the body reacts when you freedive down into the deep sea. Then it was time to land and change flight to Graz. On the plane from Vienna to Graz, we had company by William Winram, Deron Verbeck,
Nicholas Guerry and Christian Maldame, just to mention a few. When we arrived to the airport in Graz, Weine Gustavsson who came earlier there from Sweden greeted us with a big smile on his face. And with his quick lines and funny jokes, he put a smile on everyones faces too :)
Unfortunately our luggage didn't make it onto our plane, so we had to convince the staff at the airport to send it to us in Maribor when it arrived.
When we should go with the transfer taxi to Maribor, we noticed that there were only ONE taxi that could take six freedivers, and we were 13 freedivers booked for the transfer. After a few minutes discussing with the taxi driver, we decided to split into two groups and flip a coin to see who could go first. The swedish group were lucky and won, so we could go first.
When we arrived to our rooms at Dom Drava, we could finally freshen up a bit. There we also met Marcus von Schmalensée who had arrived earlier from Sweden. Then it was straight off to the pool so the team could try out the water. The pool was large and very nice, and Anders said that it felt great!
After the training session we walked around the city to get aquainted with our surroundings and to find some stores and other important places. Kimmo Lahtinen, who had met us at Dom Drava really helped us a lot. He explained where to find stores, good restaurants, cash machines, and also explained competition rules and stuff to think about during the competition. A very big thanks to Kimmo!
When we came back to Dom Drava, we met the living legend Herbert Nitsch and had a chat with him. He seemed to be a very calm and cool guy. We also met the incredibly charming and always smiling Lotta Ericson, who has become a well known character in the world of freediving.
The rest of the evening we just hang around at Dom Drava where we talked and listened to Bill Strömberg, another well known freediver, while we waited for our delayed luggage. About 1am we got it and then went up to get some sleep.
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Day 3 (02.07.2007)
We got up early in the morning to get back to the pool again for some practice. There we met the finnish national team, for example the man with the giant lungs, Timo Kinnunen and the very talanted Johanna Nordblad. Also the giant from Denmark, Timo Jattu where there. Per Westin had recently arrived and was trying out the pool. It seemed to be a calm atmosphere around the pool, even though you could feel some tension in the air.
Our team from Åland mostly walked around and smiled, listened, watched and just processed all the information and knowledge from other freedivers. It was amazing for us that our tiny, tiny 
club finally got to be a part of the world elite and dive together with them! What an incredible experience!
On the way from practice we met and spoke to Kars van Kouwen from the Netherlands. He seemed to be a very kind and talkative guy.
After that we decided to see more of the beautiful city of Maribor, so we had a long walk and 
walked over the bridge to cross the river Drava. After a while we got a bit hungry, so we walked to the largest mall in Slovenia, called Europark where we found a nice restaurant and sat down to order some food. It was incredibly good food there, and belive it or not but Peter, who is known to be the pizza eater Numero Uno, choosed a healty barbequed tuna with salad. And it was really delicious!
In the evening it started to rain and we also heard some thunder in the distance. Peter who had recently learned a new photo technique got very eager and ran up to his room to take some photos of the lightnings for his private photo gallery. A few moments later, also Daniel went up to the room to take a look and he too were amazed by the lightning show. When the lightning show was over, it was time to sleep.
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Day 4 (03.07.2007)
Also this day we got up early, to go to the pool and practice. Everyone walked around and talked to other freedivers and we got some new friends from all over the world. We talked about techniques, equipment, competition rules and so on. Daniel helped Lotta with her training while Weine and Per tried to do some static apnea warm up.
Anders tried out his new swim suit, and he also tried a weight vest that he had borrowed from Bill. It felt much better than the neck weight, since there were no pressure on his neck or chest, so he decided to use the vest in the competition.
We also saw Stig Severinsen from Denmark, who also is one of the best freedivers in the world.
The wellknown Carlos Coste and his coach from Venezuela were there too.
After the training session, we went out on the town, where Peter met a friend from Slovenia. We had some sightseeing in the town, and also walked to a local aquarium where they had different species of fishes and reptiles. It was a pretty small place that smelled a bit, but still it was fun to do something else than freediving.
In the evening, it was time for the opening ceremony. All the national teams gathered outside Dom Drava, where they got signs with the names of their countries. A police escorted the crowd to the sound of a drummer along the main street in Maribor. The citizens stopped to watch, they leaned out the windows to see what the fuzz was about. But I don't think that many of them knew that it was the best freedivers in the world, gathered to compete in the world championship of freediving.
When we got to the big stage at the summer festival Lent, Sandi Bitenc, the president for the arranging club held a welcome speech for all the freedivers. Also the AIDA president Bill Strömberg and the mayor of Maribor said a few words. The well known freediver, adventurer and underwater photographer Sebastian Näslund, who also were a speaker during the competition, shouted out the different freediving nations, followed by cheering from the crowd. Unfortunately he forgot some of the nations, but I guess it is pretty hard to remeber everyone, especially now when freediving as a sport is growing larger every minute.
All of the freedivers were invited to stay at the party, but since the competition begun then next day, most of them decided to get back to Dom Drava to get some sleep. Another wonderful day had come to it's end.
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Day 5 (04.07.2007) - COMPETITION.
The tension was in the air before the qualification heat in DYN. Per Westin and Lotta Ericson were the first freedivers to compete. Per showed everyone how to dive, and put pressure on most of the other guys with an amazing dive of 200 meters, which was both a new personal record for Per and a new swedish national record. Nice going Per! What a wonderful feeling to be able to see that dive with our own eyes!
Lotta also did an outstanding performance and came up after 150 meters, which also was a new swedish national record! What an amazing beginning on this competition!
Weine Gustavsson did a 182 meter dive, which also was a new personal record! Even Anders had a new personal best and a new local record for 139 meters! What a team!
Peter Boivie did 128 m which is also very good.
Antero Joki from Freediving Finland impressed us all by doing a 156 meter dive! Very good!
In total there were 15 disqualified men, which were many more compared to previous years. Maybe Westins 200 meter dive put some of them under too much pressure? But on the other hand there were 8 national records for the men!
In total there were 9 ladies that reached 150 meters and over. Very impressive. The ladies only had three disqualifications, but unfortunately two of them were our finnish girls from Freediving Finland. Hopefully it will work out better next time. The women had a total of 11 national records!
Our other team member Ingela Karlsson, arrived to Maribor the day before, and she helped Peter as a camera assistant, so they could get more photos and videos from different angles. She did a good job and got many nice photos too. Also Johan helped a lot with the cameras and shot some good material.
In the evening we went out to a nearby pizza restaurant with the swedish team and had something to drink, to celebrate the good results. It was so cheap that Peter decided to pay for everyone. No beer taste as good as free beer ;)
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Day 6 (05.07.2007) - COMPETITION.
Today it was time for the static apnea. Once again, Lotta and Per were the first ones to start. Lotta had earlier asked if Daniel could coach her, and he was kind enough to do that, even though he was a bit nervous since he didn't want to do anything to risk Lottas results. Weine was coaching Per with a smile on his face. It really was a nice atmosphere.
Lotta showed the crowd how to do it with some help from Daniel and got the best time of 6:25 in the qualification heat. The closest one to her was the mermaid from U.S.A, Jessica Wilson, with the time 6:03.
But this time it was Peter Boivie that really got to show everyone that Sweden still is one of the best freediving nations in the world! In the qualification heat he held his breath for incredible 7 minutes and 7 seconds. In the final heat he held his breath for 7:10, which gave him the bronze medal and a new national record! Congratulations Boivie!
Anders held his breath for 6:08, which is a new personal and local record! Good job! Not bad at all for your first World Championship!
Antero Joki did a very impressive breath hold for 6:59!
Finland's great hope in static, Timo Kinnunen, unfortunately was disqualified. But we all know what he can do and what an amazing lung capacity that guy has, so I promise everyone that we will see more impressive results from him in the future.
On the other hand, Johanna Nordblad did a 5:35 breath hold, which is very good, and still it is about 1 minute from her personal best, 6:39.
After the qualification, it was a 2 hours break for training, so we went with the swedish team to the nearby coffé shop/restaurant called Zaife (Soap), that Lotta told us about. The interior looked like an old style bar mixed with some futuristic design and cadillac seats. They had a very nice chocolate filled, sweet dessert called "Chimichangas".
Then we went back to the pool to watch the "dynamic apnea with fins" finals.
This is where we witnessed the first world record during that competition. Natalia Molchanova from Russia came up after impressive 205 meters! And she looked very clear in her head like it was just a walk in the park. We were all amazed by her performance and everyone cheered and whistled like crazy to show our happiness for her!
Elisabeth Kristoffersen from Norway was the woman that came closest to Natalia with her impressive 174 meters! Well done!
In the final heats for men, Stig Severinsen from Denmark showed everyone who has got more experience than anyone when it comes to freediving. The whole dive he was 
keeping a good and steady speed. But when he came to 200 meters and turned, he slowed down and let his challenger Alexey Molchanov from Russia pass by. Then Stig followed him to 213 meters where Alexey surfaced, and then Stig did one more kick to get pass him just enough to get the Gold medal. He dived 216 meters. What an incredible performance.
Alexey set a new national record with his performance. Congratulations!
Also William Winram from Canada set a new national record with 203 meters. Well done!
In the evening we went to Zaife again toghether with the swedish and danish team. Also Kars and a few of the judges and a few other guys joined us for a pizza. After the pizza a few of us also had the Chimichangas dessert, but since we were stuffed, Daniel offered himself to take care of the rest. And he ate them all. Impressive Daniel, Peter got some serious competition!
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Day 7 (06.07.2007) - COMPETITION.
In the static finals for men, all of they guys in the top reached over 7 minutes:
Nicolas Guerry - 7'34''
Tomek Bryl - 7'15''
Peter Boivie - 7'10''
Herbert Nitsch - 7'03''
Peter Boivie pushed himself even further and got a medal! What a guy :)
When the ladies begun, everyone tought that Natalia would win easily. But after about 6 minutes, she suddenly begun to move and it looked like she got into the fighting phase. Lotta still looked very cool, and everyone in the audience tought that Lotta would get the gold medal. But this was clearly not the case. After 6 minutes and 49 seconds, Lotta finally came up, did a good surface protocol and smiled. Molchanova seemed to relax again and the crowd was completely quiet. When the time reached 8 minutes sharp, Molchanova surfaced, did a perfect surface protocol and smiled.
Once again, it looked like a walk in the park. What does this woman eat for breakfast? A new national record, a world record and a gold medal for Natalia Molchanova. Congratulations!
And Lotta set a new national record and got the silver medal! You are one hell of a lady too Lotta! :)
Jessica Wilson did 6 minutes sharp, and that gave her the bronze medal. Congratz!
Then we had a break for training, and the team went back to our rooms to get some rest, to charge the camera batteries and to transfer all the photos and videos to Johans laptop to get more space on the memory cards. Because soon it was time for the event that Freediving Team Åland had waited for: Anders DNF performance.. We have watched videos of other freedivers DNF techniques, and we have filmed Anders techniques and compared. We all came to the conclusion that he has a very beautiful technique and precise control of every muscle in his body.
But how would it compare side by side with the worlds best freedivers that would compete in the same pool? The world championship pool? No one of us had any expectations, all we wanted was for Anders to get a white card from the judge and thereby an official World Championship result.
Before the dive, Bill was kind enough to give Anders a few advices and told him what to expect and what to do in different situations. Thank you very much for the help!
Marcus von Schmalensee was the first one to dive. He is a very young but talanted guy, and I think that we will see much more from him in the future, as long as he can stay calm and listen to his body. Because he sure has willpower and fightingspirit. He looked very nervous, but then again it was his first world championship competition too, so go figure. Marcus did a 120 meter dive, and even though it wasn't enough for a final, it was still a very nice dive! Good job "Spiggen"!
As a coach, Anders younger brother Johan was talking calmly with him before his performance. They both looked very stable and focused and ready to show the world that even a small club from a small island has got what it takes.
The countdown begun, and Johan informed Anders about the time. When the official top came, and Anders went under, I think that everyone in our team inhaled a deep breath and held it for as long as he was under. Earlier that day, Peter, Daniel and Ingela rewrote a well known prayer, called "Our Father". We renamed it to "Our Anders" since almost none of us are very religious, but we wanted to give him any kind of support that was possible.
And the prayer maybe helped him. He came up after 134 meters, and did a very nice surface protocol. We were all very happy, since it not only were a new personal record, but also a new swedish record!
But how far would it take him? Freediver after freediver dived longer than Anders, and we didnt really hear all the results from the other end of the pool, so we didn't know what would happen.
And then, after what seemed like an eternity, they begun calling upp the A-finalists:
Stig Severinsen
Timo Jattu
Naoyuki Tominaga
William Winram
Henning Larsen
Martin Zajac
When the last one was to be announced, we had almost lost our hope, and tought that "Well, it still was a very good performance."......and then....they called out the name:
Anders Larsson
We all started to scream and shout like crazy. Ingela started to cry and Sjöberg just stared into the thin air at first and didnt know what to think. Then he started crying like a little schoolgirl too. And it was happy tears. This was the best day ever in the whole history of our small club, Freediving Team Åland. Thank you Anders for your great performance, and thank you to everyone in our club that contributed to the atmosphere and thanks to all the freedivers in Slovenia - Maribor 2007.
We especially want to give a BIG thank you to our sponsors that helped us reaching the stars:
Finally Anders is now officially one of the best freedivers in the world. What more can you ask for when you have good friends, understanding and loving families and helpful parents that encourage you to do your best, but teaches you to be humble and to do it with dignity, honesty and joy.
That's what sportmanship is all about.
Between the ladies, it was a very even fight, and since three of the top results were exactly the same, it actually was the announced performances that set the finalists positions:
Natalia Molchanova - 117m
Eva Tommerup Johnsen - 116m (Announced 102m)
Alena Zabloudilova - 116m (Announced 93m)
Johanna Nordblad - 116m (Announced 50m)
Johanna thereby reached the A-finals too and also set a new national record! Congratulations!
In the evening, we went to Zaife and had pizzas, Chimichangas and the whole shebang together with the swedes and the finns and a few from the danish team. Peter Boivie ordered a shot of vodka, but the waitor missunderstood him, and came out with six 4cl glasses instead of one 6cl glass.
Sjöberg was so happy on the behalf of Anders and the team and wanted to share his happiness in his own way with all the new friends we had met in Maribor, so he decided to pay for everyone's drinks and food. Then he slowly walked back home to Dom Drava where he fell asleep like a little child, with a big smile on his face.
This was the happiest day in his life.
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Day 8 (07.07.2007) - THE FINAL COMPETITION DAY.
This day, the DNF finals weren't scheduled until 4pm in the afternoon, so while Anders and Johan rested, Daniel, Peter and Ingela decided to have some lunch in the town and to buy some postcards to send back home to our families and our sponsors. Unfortunately most 
places seemed to be closed since it was saturday so we couln't find any postcards to buy and no place to eat. Then suddenly we found a place that seemed to be open, so we asked them if they had any beef or meat that we could have for lunch.
We were asked to go down the stairs and we would find a table. A very professional waitor came and showed us to a table and brought in the menu. Ingela and Daniel noticed that they promoted champagne on a small card on the table, so they decided to bring in some champagne to celebrate our wonderful trip to Maribor and the good results we would bring back home! And kindly enough, the waitor gave us a sample from their local sparkling wine!
The place, the food and the service from the waitor was outstanding, and even though we underestimated the standard of the restaurant when we walked trough the door in just shorts and T-shirts, we were treated like Kings and Queens. If the owner of the restaurant read this, then please give your employees a raise. They really deserve it!
The name of the restaurant is Rozmarin, and if you ever go to Maribor, we reccomend you to find this place close to the center square.
Ingelas fahter unknowingly sponsored the food this time, and it was very appreciated. Thank you!
Then we went back to the pool to watch the DNF finals.
As we expected, Stig Severinsen once again showed everyone how to dive, and did not only set a new national record, but also a World record with 186 meters! And we were there to see it!
Also as most of us expected was that Natalia Molchanova would get some great results, but she just like Stig, did not only set a new national record, but also a World record with 149 meters! And once again she made it look as simple as a walk in the park. What an amazing woman!
Johanna Nordblad once again set a new national record with 125 meters!
Even though there were many LMC's and disqualifications, this had been one hell of a competition with many new World Records, National Records and Personal Records. The competition was very well arranged, even though we tought that the saftety divers were a bit slow to help the divers sometimes. But no one was injured and most of the competitors seemed very happy and satisfied.
Thank you H2O team, all the safety divers, judges, volounteers, sponsors and anyone that contributed to this competition in any kind of way
In the evening, there was a ceremony by the main stage at the Lent festival where they presented the winners and gave them their well earned medals. Everyone was happy and cheered for each person they announced.
Lotta was smokin' hot and looked just like a very classy lady from one of those black and white movies from the 50's and 60's, except that she was very colourful and had a smile as bright as the sun.
While we stood in the audience and watched the prize ceremony, Daniel got a new friend. It was the crazy japanese freediver from the movie "The big blue", that hyperventilated so much that he fainted before he even got into the water. It was a very funny guy!
After the prize ceremony, it started raining, but everyone was so happy and didn't care that they got wet. We climed onboard the buses and then had a short ride to the Pohorje Sports arena where the party was.
The food was great, and there were enough drinks for everyone too. After a while, Boivie traded clothes with the crazy japanese guy, and then walked around the whole evening with a giant red japanese sun on his belly. It was hillarious!
Marcus von Schmalensee that normally had been pretty calm and quiet during the whole competiton, unfortunately "missplaced" his black box, which contained his money, passport and airplane tickets. He was pretty sure that someone had stolen it and was determined to find the guy that took it from him. Everyone helped him to search for it, but even though we turned the place up side down we didn't find it.
But after an hour or two, he remebered that he had been out for some fresh air, and then climbed up a small tower on the playground in the yard. He had left the box there. So it all ended well. But just to be sure, Johan confiscated the box and kept it safe. Then we waited for the bus to go back home where we could get some sleep.
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Day 9 (08.07.2007)
This day, the members of Freediving Team Åland woke up pretty late. But we walked together into the city of Maribor to find some lunch. But since it was sunday, almost all the places were closed, and all we found was a McDonald's. Since everything else was closed we decided to walk back to our rooms to rest some more.
In the evening we went to the restaurant Zaife, where we talked, laughed and had a really great time. And that is really the essence of our Team; To have fun.
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Day 10 (09.07.2007)
Last day in Maribor - Slovenia. We did have a great time during the week, but since we didn't have enough time to go for some sightseeing, we decided to go up to the largest mountain in Maribor, called Pohorje.
We called for a cab and begun the trip to the mountain. We tough that it was a pretty quick ride straight up the mountain, but we had to go around it to the back side. The roads were very curved and the sides were pretty steep, so after a while, both Peter and Ingela felt some motion 
sickness. After a long ride, we finally came to a hotel on the top, where we could see the whole Maribor city. Anders and Johan went for a walk on a bike trail, and Peter, Daniel and Ingela stayed at the Hotel and had something to drink.
When we should go to the airport, we had some problems with the transfer taxi, but thanks to Sandi Bitenc, it all was solved and we could go home. Thank you Sandi for you help!
Finally we could go to the airport and begin our journey back home.
It had been a long, interesting, funny and very exhausting week. But we will never forget all the good things we experienced there.
On the Viking Line ferry back home, the crew had a "gold medal", a cake and some gifts for Anders, which he appreciated very much. Thank you!
When we came back to Åland, Ander's and Johan's mom and dad, Anders family, Johan's girlfriend and Daniel's family waited for us and gave us all a big welcome hug.
Then, and only then, I think that Anders realized what he had achieved. He shedded a tear of happyness and smiled.
The Photogallery
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Anders has a background as a swimmer and has thereby got amazing techniques and he is very comfortable in the water. His best techniques are in Dynamic Apnea without fins (DNF).
Vasabladet 29.11.2007 (PDF 524kb)
Huvudstadsbladet 13.11.2007 (PDF 399kb)
Nya Åland 02.01.2008 (PDF 166kb)
Tidningen Åland 19.11.2007 (PDF 1389kb)
Nya Åland 19.11.2007 (PDF 90kb)
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