Forrest Simon-Daris Named to USA Freediving Team for Pool Freediving World Championships.

Malibu, CA, April 25, 2016 (Newswire.com) - USA Freediving is proud to announce that Forrest Simon-Daris will be the sole representative for the USA at the AIDA Pool Freediving World Championships. The event is in Turku, Finland from June 25 to July 3, 2016. Turku is Finland’s oldest city located on the shore of the Baltic Sea. The event will bring together the best freedivers of the world to compete for top honors in the pool freediving disciplines.

The AIDA Pool Freediving World Championships is a biannual event that contests the three disciplines of freediving that take place in the pool: Static (STA), Dynamic (DYN), and Dynamic No Fins (DNF). Male and female athletes from around the world will converge to see who is the best athlete by sex and discipline. Athletes are able to compete in one, two, or all three events.

Impivaara Pool is the state of the art site for the competition. The pool is an indoor facility and will provide the stable environment needed for the best performances of the athletes.

“I am... incredibly honored and proud to wear red, white and blue, and to represent the USA to the best of my abilities as a person and an athlete.” is Forrest’s response to being selected as the USA representative for this year’s AIDA Pool Freediving World Championships. Forrest began freediving in his native South Florida at the early age of nine. He was heavily involved in hunting with his father. As he grew up he became aware of competitive freediving and began to train with hopes of competing for the first time in 2002 after seeing an online video.

Forrest said, “My best friend calls me up. Tells me to rush over to his house.  He guides me to his computer, to show me a video online of a guy with no fins from Finland.  His name is Topi Litunkangis.” He was hooked. Unfortunately, his plans were sidelined until last year where he competed for the first time in La Paz, Mexico.

Forrest’s passion for freediving has been reignited. He has become a freediving instructor and plans on continuing to compete beyond this event. When asked what motivated him to apply for Finland he said, “Because of the Finnish influence I spoke of earlier, my sick love affair with pool, and the performances I have only begun to explore. I feel Finland is the perfect place. When you want to be the best you can be, you surround yourself with better.... What better place than the World Championships. I plan on setting the bar high in Finland.”

Static tests the athlete’s ability to hold their breath for time.  The athlete lays face down in the shallow end of a pool with a coach providing for safety signaling and timing.  Upon surfacing at the conclusion of their performance the athlete must perform a surface protocol by removing their facial equipment, signaling okay and say, I am okay, to demonstrate he or she is in control of his or her performance.

Dynamic No Fins is performed by swimming without fins in a pool with the athlete holding their breath swimming as far as they can.  Distance is measured with the use of a metered tape measure.

Dynamic is performed by swimming with fins/monofin in a pool with the athlete holding their breath swimming as far as they can.  Distance is measured with the use of a metered tape measure.

USA Freediving is a non-profit association founded on a democratic representation of freediving within the United States and internationally. Founded in 2003, USA Freediving brought together a diverse group of 21 founding members, all interested in the development and growth of freediving. In just six months, this highly dedicated group was able to create an association recognized as the voice of freediving in the United States by the international community. The association has grown to over one hundred members with continued growth expected.  

The International Association for the Development of Freediving, AIDA, is the international sanctioning body for freediving, individual and team competition, and freediving world record attempts. 

The 2016 AIDA Team Freediving World Championships is set for mid September in Greece.  The US will have athletes competing at this event as well.  

Source: USA Freediving