Relive, day by day, the program of the CMAS European freediving championships in Kas, Turkey.
Saturday, October 7
For the last day of the competition Arthur Guérin-Boëri was expected in the jump blue, a final for this event which has been removed from future competitions.
Rémy Dubern started without fins, which amused the organizers, but his participation was still accounted for; Alice Modolo completed her lap and a half, but Arthur couldn’t hold beyond that, although he is the current world record holder. Despite being determined before the event, he was cold as he entered the water, and the 5 years of intensive pool training certainly played a role in this event.
Friday, October 6
Arnaud Jerald won a bronze medal, in constant weight with bi-fins: his performance of -92 meters – his best performance ever in bi-fins – also allowed him to set a new French record in the discipline. Vincenzo Ferri finished 2nd and Alexey Molchanov became the new European champion and world record holder. See Arnaud Jerald’s performance here.
Alice Modolo et Thomas Bouchard respectively validated 60 and 70 meters.Charlotte Benoit in Open also won a bronze medal!
Wednesday, October 4
Today, in constant weight without fins, two French athletes were lined up, Rémy Dubern and Thomas Bouchard. Rémy Dubern unfortunately had to withdraw despite a very conservative announcement, 5 meters from his max. Sick for a week, he couldn’t dive. He still honored his selection attempting a dive but had to stop at 2 meters.Thomas Bouchard, the reigning French champion, achieved a very nice performance by reaching -70 meters, thus earning a bronze medal, with a smooth exit protocol. France thus scored its first medal at the European Championships and paved the way for other freedivers! Rewatch Thomas Bouchard’s performance.
For the first time in the history of freediving, the competition was broadcast live on the « Olympic Channel » TV station!
Tomorrow is a « rest » day, competition resumes Friday for the constant weight bi-fins event!
Tuesday, October 3
First day of the CMAS European freediving championships, andfirst results:
– world record for Alexei Molchanov with 122 meters!
– Arnaud Jerald validatedhis 95 meters
– Stéphane Tourreau : unfortunately, a red card for Stéphane due to a surface blackout.
–Alice Modolo – vice world champion in freediving validatedvalidated her 74 meters… and the French record!!! Watch (or rewatch) Alice Modolo’s performance here. Tomorrow, two French athletes will represent France in the very demanding and beautiful discipline of constant weight without fins at the Championships. Rémy Dubern, the world champion, announced the second biggest performance with 75 meters, behind Croatian Goran Colak, 83 meters, who is in excellent form for this international event. They will be followed by two Italians then Thomas Bouchard, with an announcement at 70 meters.
As for the women, no French athletes are competing, as Alice Modolo is taking a rest after a very exhausting day that still allowed her to set a new French record, with -74 meters in monofin. Congratulations to her and good competition to our French athletes tomorrow!
Monday, October 2
The French team has arrived, some for more than a week, in Turkey for the CMAS European Championships, starting tomorrow morning with the constant weight event in monofin.
The French delegation this year is made up ofAlice Modolo, French constant weight record holder, two world champions, Arthur Guérin-Boëri et Rémy Dubern, Stéphane Tourreau, vice-world champion in previous freediving event, Thomas Bouchard et Arnaud Jerald, both crowned French champions this year, respectively in constant weight without fins and bi-fins. They are accompanied by the coaches Arnaud Ponche and Christian Vogler.SCOOP of the day:
Tomorrow, the European Championships will be broadcast live on Olympic Channel, whose Facebook is followed by more than 2,500,000 people! The CMAS and its freediving commission, as well as the FFESSM and its national freediving commission in France, have been actively working for months to promote Olympic freediving!
So support us by being very numerous in front of your screens to follow the athletes, starting tomorrow! 😉
While waiting to announce the series, the opening ceremony having just concluded, we are awaiting news and will keep you informed as soon as possible!
We thus announce the LIVE broadcast of the competition on the usual Facebook Diveye channel: https://www.facebook.com/diveye.freediving/ at 9:00 local time (8:00 in France) and for the first time, a freediving competition on Olympic Channel: https://goo.gl/5qbbYk, the IOC channel for broadcasting sports content related to the Olympic Games!
The live link on Olympic Channel is scheduled at 1:00 PM (12:00 in France) when the athletes who announced the twelve biggest depths will compete. Certainly, our French athletes will be among them! So spread this information widely, share it… now or never to pave the way for the Olympic Games!
Live from Kas, Turkey