| Herbert Nitsch | |
| Birth Date: | 20 April 1970 |
| Birth Place: | Austria |
| Occupation: | World Record Holder Free-diver and Air pilot |
Herbert Nitsch (born 20 April 1970) is an Austrian freediver, the current freediving world record champion, and "the deepest man on earth"[1] having dived to a depth of 253.2m (830.7feet).
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.
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.
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[2] by almost 50 m.
Nitsch also held the world record in the Constant Weight event,[3] 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 110m (360feet), 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 111m (364feet),[4] 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 112m (367feet) during the World Championships in Sharm. Herbert also won the AIDA Individual World Championships.
His record of 66m (217feet) for Constant Weight without fins, set in 2004,[5] was beaten by 14 m in 2005 by Czech free-diver, Martin Štěpánek, who was also the holder of the Free Immersion record of 106m (348feet); Nitsch recorded 100m (300feet) 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.
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.
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 109m (358feet). He also established two subsequent world record dives in Constant Weight at 114m (374feet), and 120m (390feet) 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 40m (130feet) 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 142m (466feet); Free Immersion at 112m (367feet); and Constant Weight at 123m (404feet).
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 114m (374feet) and 120m (390feet), and a world record in Constant Weight at 124m (407feet).[6]
Nitsch focused solely on the "No Limit" events after this, in which the record attempts fall outside of regulated competition.
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.
Nitsch set the world record[7] in Spetses, Greece in June 2007 when he descended to 214m (702feet),[8] beating his own record of 183m (600feet) set the previous year.[9]
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 244m (801feet).[10]
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 253.2m (830.7feet),[11] a Guinness World Record,[12] 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.
Nitsch also worked part-time as a pilot for Tyrolean Airways.
The asteroid 295471 Herbertnitsch, discovered by Italian amateur astronomer Vincenzo Casulli in 2008, was named in his honor. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 27 August 2019 .
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.
| Federation | Record | Date | Location | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DNF | AIDA | 131m (430feet) | 27 January 2001 | Geneva | |
| DYN | AIDA | 170m (560feet) | 24 February 2001 | Geneva | |
| CWT | AIDA | 72m (236feet) | 16 June 2001 | Millstätter See | |
| CWT | AIDA | 86m (282feet) | 11 October 2001 | Ibiza | |
| DYN | AIDA | 172m (564feet) | 10 November 2001 | Berlin | |
| DNF | AIDA | 134m (440feet) | 24 November 2001 | Wiesbaden | |
| DYN | AIDA | 181m (594feet) | 2 February 2002 | Vienna | |
| FIM | AIDA | 92m (302feet) | 27 February 2002 | Austria | |
| DYN | AIDA | 183m (600feet) | 16 November 2002 | Berlin | |
| FIM | AIDA | 100m (300feet) | 5 September 2003 | Millstätter See | |
| CWT | AIDA | 95m (312feet) | 5 September 2003 | Millstätter See[13] | |
| CNF | AIDA | 50m (160feet) | 6 September 2003 | Millstätter See | |
| CNF | AIDA | 62m (203feet) | 11 September 2004 | Spetses (Greece) | |
| CNF | AIDA | 66m (217feet) | 12 September 2004 | Spetses | |
| NLT | AIDA | 172m (564feet) | 2 October 2005 | Žirje (Croatia) | |
| NLT | AIDA | 183m (600feet) | 28 August 2006 | Žirje | |
| CWT | AIDA | 111m (364feet) | 9 December 2006 | Hurghada (Egypt) | |
| STA | AIDA | 9 min 04 sec | 13 December 2006 | Hurghada | |
| NLT | AIDA | 185m (607feet) | 13 June 2007 | Spetses | |
| NLT | AIDA | 214m (702feet) | 14 June 2007 | Spetses | |
| CNF | AIDA | 83m (272feet) | 21 October 2007 | Dahab (Egypt) | |
| CWT | AIDA | 112m (367feet) | 1 November 2007 | Sharm (Egypt) | |
| CWT | AIDA | 114m (374feet) | 4 April 2009 | Long Island (Bahamas) | |
| FIM | AIDA | 109m (358feet) | 6 April 2009 | Long Island (Bahamas) | |
| CWT | AIDA | 120m (390feet) | 11 April 2009 | Long Island (Bahamas) | |
| SKA | 107m (351feet) | 26 June 2009 | Lindos (Greece) | ||
| VWT | AIDA | 142m (466feet) | 7 December 2009 | Long Island (Bahamas) | |
| FIM | AIDA | 112m (367feet) | 8 December 2009 | Long Island (Bahamas) | |
| CWT | AIDA | 123m (404feet) | 9 December 2009 | Long Island (Bahamas) | |
| FIM | AIDA | 114m (374feet) | 19 April 2010 | Long Island (Bahamas) | |
| CWT | AIDA | 124m (407feet) | 22 April 2010 | Long Island (Bahamas) | |
| FIM | AIDA | 120m (390feet) | 25 April 2010 | Long Island (Bahamas) | |
| NLT | Guinness WR | 253.2m (830.7feet) | 6 June 2012 | Santorini |
72m = AIDA Lake Record; after 2001-12-31 AIDA International no longer separated the records achieved in a lake from those in the sea.
| Discipline | Result | Accreditation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | STA | 9:04 min | AIDA |
| Distance | DNF | 138 m | AIDA |
| DYN | 183 m | AIDA | |
| Depth | 83 m | AIDA | |
| 124 m | AIDA | ||
| FIM | 120 m | AIDA | |
| VWT | 142 m | AIDA | |
| NLT | 253.2 m 214 m | Guinness WR AIDA | |
| SP | 107 m | ||