Lars Müller from the TC Uni Stuttgart Manatees club won the distance diving event with 167.5 meters. De Wet came in at 200.5 meters in the international classification. Madeleine Klenke-Müller won the women’s event with 200.5 meters. Like Müller, she dives for the Stuttgart club.
German record holder: nine and a half minutes without air
The German record in the static discipline, in which the divers only have to stay under water, is held by Heike Schwerdtner and is around nine and a half minutes without holding her breath. This puts her well ahead of the German men’s record, which is just under eight minutes.
According to Hinkelmann, apnoea diving is a growing sport. In Chemnitz, an apnoea group has developed from the strong finswimming scene over the past few years, which is now one of the top performers nationwide, according to the competition representative. Nationwide, around 450 divers practice this as a competitive sport, while several thousand are active in recreational sports, he said.