Ted Harty Breaks Longest Standing US Men's National Freediving Record at World Championships.

Online, October 11, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Lignano, Italy. US Freediving is pleased to announce that Ted Harty, Founder of Immersion Freediving, set a new US national record in the freediving discipline of Dynamic Apnea with a performance of 170 meters / 558 feet on October 10, 2011 at the AIDA Individual Indoor Freediving World Championships. Ted has qualified for the finals that will take place later in the competition.

Ted was competing in the qualifying heats during the event. The top twenty-three male and female athletes from the qualifying heats are selected for the finals. Ted increased his competition personal best by twenty meters with this performance.

Ted's performance surpasses Theo Ivanovic previous record of 167 meter / 548 feet set in London, England in 2006. This was the longest standing US Men's National Record. Ted has secured another start in the World Championships Finals for Dynamic that will have him face off with the world's top athletes for the title of World Champion.

Ted said, "I've been looking at Theo's 167 M record setting performance for a long time. I knew that all I needed to do was put in some good training time and I could get there. I did some solid pool and dry land training to prepare for this event. Even when I'm not training in the pool, I teach freediving classes through my company. Leading up to the competition, I taught a lot of courses. These courses are great training as well because I do so many dives with short surface intervals."

Ted continues, "The day of my dive I felt relaxed all day. I was able put the record completely out of my mind and just focus on hitting the wall at 100 M and making the turn. The contractions never got too bad. I had a moment at the end of the dive where I almost kept going, but thankfully I stuck to the plan and came up right past 168 M. I'm excited to go to the finals and represent the USA. I can't wait to see what else I can do."

AIDA Individual Indoor Freediving World Champioships is a biannual event that seats the world's leading male and female freedivers to compete for individual titles in the three freediving pool disciplines (Dynamic, Dynamic No Fins, and Static Apnea).

Dynamic Apnea is performed by swimming with fins or a monofin in a pool with the athlete holding their breath while swimming as far as they can. Dynamic No fins is performed by swimming without the aid of fins or a monofin with the athlete holding their breath while swimming as far as they can. A modified breaststroke is used. Static Apnea is a test of pure breath hold for time with the athlete holding their breath with their face in the water while floating on the surface of the pool.

US Freediving is a nonprofit association founded on the democratic representation of freediving within the United States and internationally. Founded in 2003, US Freediving consists of an active membership dedicated to furthering freediving in the United States and abroad. For more information about US Freediving, the U.S. National Freediving Team, and membership please visit http://www.usfreediving.org.

Immersion Freediving is a freediving school and training center. For more information please visit http://www.immersionfreediving.com

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. For more information about AIDA please visit http://www.aidainternational.org.