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[UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING]
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[MUSIC FADES]
[MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[WIND CHIMES TINKLING]
[ENIGMATIC CHORAL MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: [ECHOING] They ask why.
The answer is larger than language...
but I'll try.
In the abyss, time and space shrink
to a point so fine, they hold no shadow.
So we return to the giver of life,
awed by her quiet magic,
becoming everything and nothing,
seeing further, clearer,
reviving our freedom, our strength.
This is why.
[CLOCK TICKING]
[TICKING CONTINUES]
[TIMER BEEPING] ERIKA: Please come up
and breathe through the mouth, please.
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
ERIKA: Two minutes rest before the next one.
[DEVICE BEEPS]
ERIKA: Two-minute breath hold.[INHALES DEEPLY]
[CLOCK TICKING]
ERIKA: We are testing divers
to see which features are most predictive
for diving performance.
[TIMER BEEPING]
[BREATHES DEEPLY] ERIKA: Some breaths.
[EXHALES DEEPLY]
ERIKA: Three-minutes breath hold.
[INHALES DEEPLY]
Very good.
I started studying Alexey 16 years ago,
and Alexey is now dominating the field.
He has ideal physiology for diving,
but also his mental capacity and attitude.
Freediving is a mental sport.
[TIMER BEEPING]
[EXHALES DEEPLY]
So we rest two minutes and then quit?
- Uh, should we do five? - ERIKA: It's up to you.
Let's do five. Let's do one more.
But you are tired from all the diving.
Well, I can feel it, but it's fine.
I think I can-- [EXHALES, INHALES SHARPLY]
If you want, we do five, but that's it.
- Yeah. - ERIKA: But you promise to quit
if you find it struggle.
Yeah, yeah. I will for sure.
ERIKA: Start when you're ready.
[CLOCK TICKING]
ERIKA: Alexey is unusually hard on himself with training.
When you have dived very deep, you should take some days off
because otherwise, that can be dangerous.
He has a son now.
I'm a little bit worried.
[TIMER BEEPING] ERIKA: Come up.
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
ERIKA: No, you're changing color a little bit.
Can see you have held your breath.
That was good breath hold.
Now you have to take a few days off.
[SIGHS] No, no, no.
I plan to train tomorrow.
I hope by tomorrow it's ready. [CHUCKLES]
If you stress your body, you need to build it.
And it is the rest that builds, of course.
I give you a Superman Band-Aid.
[BOTH LAUGH]
[ENIGMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[SEAGULLS SQUAWKING]
[MUSIC FADES]
ALEXEY: I'm a freediver. It's all my life.
I'm very competitive, I always have been
since I was a kid.
I'm 36 now, and in many sports,
that would be too old to be a top athlete.
But I have still quite some years to compete
and stay on top of the sport.
I'm getting ready for the season.
For this year, the goal is to get all five world records
for all the disciplines for freediving.
Nobody has achieved this ever before.
[ENIGMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
ALEXEY: My favorite is monofin.
Monofin allows you to go deeper, faster.
You feel like a dolphin.
With the bi-fins, you can compare it
with a bicycle on land.
Free immersion is the discipline where you pull on a rope.
It's a great discipline to start depth exploration
because it allows you to stay at depth,
not to fight buoyancy.
And there's no fins, which is the hardest discipline
because it's slower, you spend more oxygen.
So it's a hard discipline, physically.
And for my first world record this season,
I will try variable weight.
And it's going down with a weighted sled
to go fast and use as little energy as possible.
The current record is 150 meters,
and I will try 156 meters.
Then I need to leave this weight there,
and I need to swim up on my own.
It's really a long distance to swim.
So if I don't have power in my legs,
then I will be tired halfway up.
[INHALES SHARPLY]
[EXHALES SHARPLY][WEIGHTS CLATTERING]
Careful. Tomorrow we'll go deep.
Yeah. [LAUGHS][CHUCKLES]
DANIEL: Alexey is the greatest freediver in the world.
But if Alexey can get all five world records
within the same season,
it would be something that's never been done before.
And might be considered the greatest freediving season
of all time.[EXHALES DEEPLY]
[SEAGULLS SQUAWKING]
[TENSE ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
[MUSIC FADES]
[SEAGULLS SQUAWKING]
ALEXEY: We can be fine without water and food
for days and days and days,
but we cannot hold our breath for more than several minutes.
So for our mind, breath hold is the hardest thing in life.
And as soon as we hold our breath,
we naturally push away other stress factors
because this stress factor is stronger.
And you look at things differently after this.
JEROEN: Alexey is going deeper than he has been before,
which from medical point of view,
creates a few hazards.
Being on a sled, you can reach deeper depths very quickly,
and this can create all sort of trauma.
DIRECTOR: It's possible you could go down
and never come back. That's possible.
Isn't it?
It is possible.
With all safety systems,
it's very small chance right now.
DIRECTOR:
No. No, I...
[IN RUSSIAN]
ADAM: [IN ENGLISH] At a freediving competition,
Alexey doesn't see himself in any danger.
But does a Formula One driver think they could die
when they get behind the wheel?
There are risks we are willing to take
and we get comfortable with, and because of that,
we think that we're immune to them.
DANIEL: Divers themselves very much downplay
the danger of the sport.
The one possibility of something going wrong
is a blackout.
[GASPS]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
DANIEL: Where it gets extremely scary
is when a blackout occurs at depth.
While there is a team of safety divers,
they can only dive down to about 40 meters
due to the danger.
There's not scuba used because there's no way
for a scuba diver to bring you up fast enough
without getting the bends.
[BREATHING RHYTHMICALLY]
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[BLOWS]
ANNOUNCER: Alexey Molchanov making a world record attempt,
variable weight, to 156 meters.
Expected dive time, four minutes.
MAN 1: Five, four, three, two, one.
ADAM: As you go down and down and down,
the blood shifts...
from your feet and your hands to your core.
The heart rate starts dropping.
MAN 2: Forty meters.
[DEVICE BEEPING]
Fifty.
[MUSIC BUILDS]
LEIGH: When you go down super deep,
there's an astonishing amount
of pressure exerted on the lungs,
and the lungs eventually will flatten out.
WILLIAM: To accommodate that, you have to develop
flexibility in the rib cage, the diaphragm.
If you don't have that flexibility,
that's when lung squeeze occurs.
You have bleeding either in the trachea or bronchi
or in the alveoli themselves.
LEIGH: As the pressure gets bigger,
if you don't equalize, that pressure in your ear
will become too great for the eardrum,
and it goes... [GRUNTS]
One forty.
- MAN 1: Touchdown. - Touchdown.
MAN 1: Touchdown.
ADAM: As you go deeper,
you have a little bit of narcosis.
Narcosis is due to the pressures of nitrogen
and carbon dioxide becoming narcotic.
So it changes your mental state.
ERIKA: You get dizzy and have visions
that are not real.
[MUSIC DISTORTS]
Diver okay?
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
WILLIAM: When you turn around to swim back up,
that's where the real physical part of the dive begins.
One hundred.
Go really slow.
ADAM: Now you're really kicking hard
and you have the adrenaline starting to surge,
and you don't want it to surge too much
because you can't lose the last remaining oxygen
that you've got in your bloodstream.
Thirty.
WILLIAM: On the way up, not only is the concentration
of oxygen being depleted,
but that pressure drops back down as well.
Your lungs re-expand.
Your brain now realizes, "Wait,
we have actually a lot less oxygen than we thought."
So now you're teetering on blacking out.
Diver inside.
ADAM: 90% of the blackouts are gonna happen at the surface.
[BREATHES DEEPLY][INDISTINCT CHATTER]
ADAM: When you get to the surface,
in order to get an official freedive,
you have to clear your face of any equipment.
Then you have to make an okay sign.
And you have to say, "I am okay," in that order.
[BREATHES HEAVILY]
I'm good.
WILLIAM: If the dive is validated,
you get a white card from the judges
and that's the moment when you can celebrate.
[ALL CHEER]
OKSANA: [IN RUSSIAN]
[LAUGHS]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
ALEXEY: [IN ENGLISH] I started competing
when I was four years old.
When I was five years old, I already started
to do some national records.
ADAM: Alexey was a swim prodigy.
He was the best Russian swimmer in his age group.
[IN RUSSIAN]
[LAUGHS]
[SCREAMS, BLOWS RASPBERRY]
[gibbers]
ALEXEY: [IN ENGLISH] My mom was my coach
since the beginning, and this relationship
was really important for my growth.
And when she was my coach, I had the best results.
VIKTORIA: [IN RUSSIAN]
ADAM: [IN ENGLISH] Natalia Molchanova
is widely considered
the greatest freediver of all time.
She'd had 41 world records and 23 world titles,
which made her the most decorated athlete
in the history of competitive freediving by far.
[IN RUSSIAN]
[GRUNTS]
OLEG:
NATALIA:
DAAN: [IN ENGLISH] Natalia and Alexey,
their interaction was lovely to watch
because you could tell how much
they enjoyed each other's company.
GUILLAUME: Sharing freediving for a mother and son,
that is something incredible.
They were like best friends.
And I was super happy. I was like, "Oh, yeah,
this is the sport I want to do."
It felt more exciting than swimming.
ADAM: When Alexey started to compete in freediving,
his first nickname was "The Golden Retriever"
because he was so happy and smiley
and he had this long, blond hair,
and he was like a puppy dog.
DAAN: Alexey can be very playful,
but there's a sensitive side to him
that he fiercely protects,
which has Kevlar around it,
and I'm not sure how many people get
to that bit of him.
ADAM: His next nickname was "The Machine."
He just kept beating
all the other people and he never failed.
And he could rip the heart... [LAUGHS] ...out of your chest
and destroy you.
DAAN: He's one of the greatest male freedivers
of his generation.
People like Natalia, Alexey,
they've done stuff that nobody else has.
That puts him in a special position
and makes him a little bit alone.
[IN RUSSIAN]
ELENA:
ERIKA: [IN ENGLISH] He was always very proud of his mother.
Mother was very, very proud of her son.
She was not only his mother,
but she was his trainer and his colleague.
But still, he wants to show his mom he's the best.
[MUSIC FADES]
[INSECTS CHIRRING][BIRDS CHIRPING]
[MEN SINGING INDISTINCTLY]
[SINGING CONTINUOUS]
♪ Vertical Blue!
[ALL LAUGH]
MARCO: So, safety assignments, we'll go through them again.
Rob will be on the platform, Francesco in the warm-up,
Daniel, Kathleen, and Kristine in the water.
We know what to do.
KATHLEEN: "Papi chulo" on three.
ALL: Papi, papi, papi chulo!
[ALL LAUGH][BRIGHT MUSIC PLAYING]
MATEUSZ: If you would ask someone to draw
the perfect place to freedive, it would be exactly this place.
It's pretty much a 200-meter-deep swimming pool
in the corner of a lagoon...
protected from weather from all directions.
We are hosting one of the most prestigious competition
in freediving world, which is called Vertical Blue.
DANIEL: So Vertical Blue is the Wimbledon of freediving,
where the best divers in the world break
world records in the major freediving disciplines.
MATEUSZ: Started by William Trubridge,
and he is the freediving legend.
He's most known by his world record in no fins,
102 meters.
WILLIAM: The discipline that I specialize in
is without fins, which I see
as the kind of purest expression of freediving.
Set 12 world records in no fins
to bring it from 81 meters up to 102.
The no fins record hasn't been broken since 2016.
So we're looking at seven years now,
one of the longest standing records ever in freediving.
And many consider that 102 almost a limit.
There's only one guy who's been over 100 meters
in no fins, and that's Will.
But if anyone can do it, I think it's Alexey.
Alexey has been my biggest rival.
SAM: Alexey and William, there were jousting
with each other for various records.
That's been a really long kind of relationship.
ALEXEY: Vertical Blue 2021...
I did three world records there.
It was one of the most successful competitions for me.
[CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING]
ALEXEY: But last year,
there was no competition for me, pretty much.
[BOMB WHISTLES]
[CAR ALARMS BLARING]
[BOMBS RUMBLING]
SAM: Because of the invasion of Ukraine,
Russians were not invited to compete...
to send a message about the disapproval
of what was happening there,
but also to show solidarity for the Ukrainians.
WILLIAM: A lot of freedivers were against the decision
to ban Russian athletes.
The common sentiment was, we shouldn't mix freediving
with something that's political.
But they are so intrinsically associated
that I think it's impossible to separate them,
and especially in a state like Russia,
where so much of the propaganda
and the nationalism is built around sport.
[IN RUSSIAN]
WILLIAM: [IN ENGLISH] And sure, freediving is a smaller sport,
but every small amount counts.
That last part strikes me
as a little bit of self-importance.
No one gives a shit. [CHUCKLES] Unfortunately.
If you think that a freediving competition
in the Bahamas is going to tip the scales
in global power plays,
especially... [LAUGHS] ...in the Kremlin,
you're drinking your own Kool-Aid.
DIRECTOR:
Mmm.
Yeah, but it's difficult, um, when you mix
kind of your own personal,
um, ramifications with...
with something that's political and everything else,
but I feel like it's still... still the right thing.
ALEXEY: It was emotionally very hard
because everything Russian was canceled.
But it was understandable
because nobody wants this to happen nowadays.
But I also was quite upset
because I couldn't be there and compete.
[ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC PLAYING]
ALEXEY: As Vertical Blue 2022 started,
I was holding three world records.
I held world record in monofin,
uh, bi-fins, and free immersion.
And at the end of the Vertical Blue,
it was only one record standing.
It was monofin.
It's hard to see your world records beaten
and be not able to compete to defend the records.
[CROWD APPLAUDING]
ALEXEY: I knew I could take them back later.
Recently, there was a vote
around how to compete under neutral flag.
And under neutral flag, it's fine, you can compete.
And I'm fine with that.
So for this year, the goal is to get
all the world records that I had before
and try the no fins.
This is the only one I was never able to do.
No fins is a discipline where I had much more fails,
and no fins is the focus for all the trainings I do now.
I would give up other records for the no fins for sure.
ADAM: I think it's about revenge here,
and my money is on Alexey.[MUSIC FADES]
ALEXEY: I love this job. I love the sport.
But it was challenging for my family.
[GRUNTS]
As a freediver, I'm traveling all the time.
[AIRPLANE ENGINE ROARS]
And I don't spend enough time with my son.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
ALEXEY: Max, he's two and a half.
He is the most beautiful boy in the world.
And we go together to do gymnastics.
And this one hour of the class is, like,
one of the, like, sweetest memory I have.
[BOTH SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[IN ENGLISH] It's happiness, like, seeing him grow.
I know he misses me.
I do my best, but I'm also not the best father
or husband in terms of being there.
It makes me sad.
[AIRPLANE ENGINE ROARING]
[IN RUSSIAN]
ALEXEY: But this is my sport. It involves traveling.
[BIRDS CHIRPING]
ALEXEY: It's always important to be able to achieve
your own dreams as well.
It's always a conflict.
[CACOPHONY OF SOUNDS]
[QUIET TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
[THUNDER RUMBLING]
THIBAULT: Direction of the wind is not good at all.
It comes straight at us.
So there will be waves, super strong wind.
We need to let people know
that probably our ferries will be canceled.
We are way out of the typhoon season,
and still we have a super typhoon, like,
going east of the Philippines.
ALEXEY: When you go for the record dive,
it's more stressful.
Especially with typhoons, you never know.
I need to be able to stay calm, not to panic.
THIBAULT: This is the typhoon, and we are located here.
So you see it creates, like, strong winds here as well
that goes between the islands, and it's rotating,
so we might have some winds coming straight at us.
[PHONE RINGING]
METEOROLOGIST: Hello, good afternoon, sir.
THIBAULT: Good afternoon. Do you have any information
regarding the typhoon in the next days?
METEOROLOGIST: For now, there is no gale warning issued.
THIBAULT: For now, we might expect bad conditions
and not safe enough to dive.
Typhoon is close to the Philippines
at the moment, and some strong wind
and bad conditions are coming to us.
If you want to maybe take the chance
to do one more day of competition,
but with the conditions I mentioned before,
there will be no diving tomorrow.
Sorry. Might be up to one week.
Honestly, it's a typhoon.
No one can predict if it's gonna turn or not.
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
Today could be the last day of the competition
if typhoon turns right at us.
So that's why I needed to prepare for the bi-fin record
much sooner than I thought I should.
So that's why I need to approach diving in this water
more carefully.
IRENE: It's not that easy to relax
when the waves are really strong,
when you have the waves, like, pushing your body to and fro.
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
ALEXEY: I have five minutes to warm up,
so I have much less time to prepare than usual.
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
ALEXEY: When you're underwater, resisting the pressure is bad,
mental pressure, physical pressure.
You can panic and it's really dangerous.
My mom and me,
we learned attention deconcentration technique,
which helped us to control attention
before the dive and during dive as well.
BAKHTIYAROV: [IN RUSSIAN]
ALEXEY: [IN ENGLISH] You stop paying attention
to every visual detail.
Relax the eyes and focus on the point
somewhere in between you and the object.
Basically, you see everything but blurry,
and redirect your attention inwards.
BAKHTIYAROV: [IN RUSSIAN]
ADAM: [IN ENGLISH] Through that physiological experience...
with the pressure and the environment,
and you're at your apex...
That's the flow state.
When you have this physiological ticket
to eternity, that would be addictive.
OKSANA: [IN RUSSIAN]
JUAN: [IN ENGLISH] Freediving, I don't have a sense
of the future or the past.
The anxiety that I have,
it just floats like a cloud.
And then it just goes away.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
CLAIRE: People say you find yourself.
I say you lose yourself.
You lose yourself in the water and you become water.
Water is a way to come back to the origin of life.
It's where you came from.
Even in the womb of the mother, you're in water.
When you're born, you take a breath for the first time.
So when you come back up from freediving...
[GASPS]
CLAIRE: ...it's like being reborn.
I'm okay.
[ALL CHEER]
[TENDER MUSIC PLAYING]
ALEXEY: I always wish my mom to see my success,
to see what she taught me.
INTERVIEWER: If she was here, what do you think she would say?
When I did good, she always supported me
and said to me straight how happy she is.
We just celebrate. It was never about alcohol.
I like sweets. I like cakes and ice cream.
[SEAGULLS SQUAWKING]
ALEXEY: She was good about providing support
and being genuinely happy.
VIKTORIA: [IN RUSSIAN]
ADAM: [IN ENGLISH] And she was an elite swimmer
on the national team, kind of Olympic track
as a teenager.
And she met and fell in love with another swimmer.
VIKTORIA: [IN RUSSIAN]
OLEG:
[BABY COOING]
[CHILDREN CHATTERING]
ALEXEY: [IN ENGLISH] My family, they all loved water.
I remember us spending time together on the river,
in those expeditions to the Black Sea,
and my parents had good times together.
And we had a dog, like, a big German shepherd.
The dog... [LAUGHS] ...has actually a fun name.
It was D... [LAUGHS] It was...
The dog's name was Dick.
[LAUGHS]
When I got, like, a bit older, ten, 11, 12,
that's when my parents,
they started to get a bit more, like, separated.
[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING][IN RUSSIAN]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
OLEG:
ADAM: [IN ENGLISH] Alexey's dad met another Natalia,
replaced her with a younger version.
And then their marriage ended.
That's gonna mess you up.
ALEXEY: We didn't know who was this other woman.
I remember I was very sad
when they announced they were divorced.
VIKTORIA: [IN RUSSIAN]
[MUSIC FADES]
[STIRRING MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: We enjoy the melody of movements
on the crest of a sonic wave.
We soar in space,
sliding into infinite dimensions,
leading us into the world of impermanence.
And we penetrate into endless reality.
[ALL LAUGH, CHEER]
BEATRIZ: Natalia still holds the static breath hold record
with a time of nine minutes and two seconds.
No other woman has able to go beyond that yet.
GUILLAUME: When she discovered freediving at 40 years old,
she was like, this changed my life,
so I want to bring this to as much people as possible.
She was interesting
in organizing freediving workshop
and courses to share her passion.
That was her main focus.
I thank you for this wonderful celebration,
and I love you. [CHUCKLES]
[CROWD CHEER, APPLAUD]
[ENIGMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
THIBAULT: Natalia Molchanova developed
the Molchanovs Freediving Education,
first in Russia and then internationally.
Alexey's role is to go around the world to inspire people
and bring a freediving community together
and also present the Molchanov program.
So today, Alexey is gonna teach a class
in the cave about how to hold your breath
and relax through it.
It's called Timubo Cave. It's a very special place.
ALEXEY: Hey, guys.
Let's do a little breath hold session here.
It should be very enjoyable. So no pushing.
If you push, that's not the right approach, right?
Take a couple of, like, deeper sighs.
Like... [EXHALES DEEPLY]
And... [INHALES DEEPLY]
Like, three, four, five of those to calm down even more.
When you go underwater, you don't breathe
and you're, like, hundreds of feet underneath the surface
of the, like, water, and the air is far, far away,
there are some situations when you can panic,
and you burn much more oxygen.
So freedivers, they learn how to be calm.
Which is your best result so far?
- Around six minutes. - ALEXEY: And--
STUDENT: My PB is four,
but it's also been quite some time ago.
ALEXEY: And what is your experience?
Zero?[OVERLAPPING CHATTER]
ALEXEY: Zero-- which is good, - which is really good. - Yeah.
So let's start.
So that was already a minute, so really good, really good.
Try to do inhale three, four, five seconds.
Like... [INHALES DEEPLY]
[INHALES]
ALEXEY: Relax your shoulders. Relax your neck.
And slowly go.
My mom saw how much effect freediving have on people,
how calmer they become, become less reactive.
The whole freediving sport
is about how not to get adrenaline reaction.
We learn how to get more into this mode
where we rest and relax.
Good. Slowly. [BREATHS DEEPLY]
Very good.
You're at 25.
Oh, cool.[ALL LAUGH]
So, we see it's like, you don't push.
You just relax, and it's longer and longer.
THIBAULT: This education system
will inspire several generations.
This system is the biggest part of her legacy.
[MUSIC FADES]
[SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]
GUILLAUME: I met Alexey in 2005.
It was the first time we heard about this new phenomenon,
Natalia Molchanova.
And she was with her son that was just 18.
And we had little chats back then.
He was, like, so excited,
playful and enthusiastic.
We can have a Q&A and--Oh, that's cool.
Then in 2006, he was competing in Egypt,
and we spent more time together.
We were kind of the two young kids.
All the athletes were like, "Ah, the two boys."
And this is when we became real friends.
Alexey is someone very open,
but there is something he want to keep inside of him.
There is this inner part that is closed.
[MUSIC FADES]
[IN FRENCH]
GUILLAUME:
ALEXEY: [IN ENGLISH] We will not use the word
we always use when we see each other.
[LAUGHS] Starting with S.
- GUILLAUME: [LAUGHS] Yeah. - Su... Su...
GUILLAUME: [IN FRENCH]
ALEXEY:GUILLAUME:
[IN ENGLISH] We prepare you, like, the perfect recovery...
ALEXEY: Thank you very much....meal.
Tempeh-- You know tempeh? Veggie protein.
- JULIE: Like chickpea. - Chickpea, yeah.
Okay, let's move.
Let's go.
ALEXEY: I was diving with a big sea lion.
I can show you. JULIE: Underwater?
ALEXEY: Underwater. JULIE: Okay, yeah, yeah.
GUILLAUME: Where was it? In Japan?
It's right next to Japan.
- It's Sakhalin. - GUILLAUME: Sakhalin, yeah, yeah.
- ALEXEY: Yeah, the island. - When was that?
Two weeks ago.
Two weeks ago. [LAUGHS]
Do you ever get jet-lagged?
You need to learn how to handle jet lag, of course.
How do you do that?
ALEXEY: Try to work out as soon as possible
to sweat a little bit,
and then it also helps to reset the inner clock.
Yeah, because we were wondering yesterday
how on Earth you could arrive,
dive deep several time, go to the gym...
Gym is the answer....10:00 p.m.
This is something that helps me because of course I'm tired
from diving, from traveling.
And then I go, and I use, like, low intensity workouts
to boost hormones and to recover faster.
Hm.
GUILLAUME: Alexey needs to attempt
a new world record with monofin.
[SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY]
He will try to dive at 133 meters.
I will coach Alexey in the water
and give him as much energy and support as possible
for him to succeed.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
- ALEXEY: Hello. - Hi, hi.
- How are you? - Very good, very good.
The purpose of this registration
is to check that you are fit to dive.
There should be evidence that you're able to do that
so there is no risk somebody crazy announcing
something he's not ready for.
- RECEPTIONIST: Hello. - Hello, hello.
The thing you need to know is that on day two,
if you want to change the depth,
you will be able to do it.
But you can't change the discipline.
- Okay. - RECEPTIONIST: Okay?
For Alexey to make a world record
with the monofin here is something very special.
[SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]
This is where his mother made her first world record
in the deep with the monofin.
ALEXEY: I think for me, it's important to do
my depth world record here in this birthplace
of modern competition freediving,
where my mom did her depth record.
It is a tribute to her
and it's just important for myself
to remember these times back in 2005
when we were driving together here.
GUILLAUME: Eighteen years later,
to have Alexey being here to break a new world record
with the monofin, like, this is really powerful.
Natalia's success adds some more pressure on him.
And now Alexey is training very hard
to follow in the footstep of his mother.
[MUSIC FADES]
But that can be dangerous.
[PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING]
GUILLAUME: The day before the deepest monofin dive ever,
you're supposed to rest.
This morning, I was asking him,
are you resting?
He sent me a picture of him on the boat,
and he told me that he made a dive.
I don't know if Alexey is crazy, but he's going too far.
Alexey has his own way to deal with pain.
But being very good at dealing with emotions and feeling
doesn't mean that you put your feelings in a box
and you hide it and you forget about it.
The real first step is facing your emotions,
facing your fears.
There is nothing you can solve if you don't face the reality.
[IN FRENCH]
GUILLAUME: [IN ENGLISH] I remember
the 2nd of August, 2015.
I was in shock.
Wow. We had no words.
ADAM: Natalia was teaching in Spain
and went down on a fun dive.
She wasn't going deep.
It was, like, 40-something meters.
ALEXEY: It was a group of amateur divers.
My mom wasn't familiar with the location.
It was, like, a new place.
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
ALEXEY: But then the current pushed her
into the deeper waters.
And she didn't come back up.
[MUSIC INTENSIFIES]
ALEXEY: It felt surreal...
like a nightmare, like, come reality.
[SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING]
It was kind of unbelievable.
Sorry.
ALEXEY: Started my way to Spain.
There was a search happening,
and there was an attempt to find the body.
I didn't know actually
how much do I want the body to be found or not.
For me, it almost was better
to remember her the way she left,
not sort of, like, seeing her dead body.
[BOTH SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[LAUGHS]
ALEXEY: [IN ENGLISH] In a month time,
I got back to freediving...
to keep myself busy...
and prepare for the next world championship.
ERIKA: I also went to Cyprus in 2015.
Alexey, tough guy, he was there competing.
I was thinking, "Oh, my God,
can you not take a year off or so?"
But this is his way of...
handling it. It was very sad.
GUILLAUME: And I was so surprised
to see Alexey was coming and competing.
That was the moment I realized that he has the ability
to create different spaces into his mind.
I asked him how he could make it to this world championship,
and he said, "What else could I have done?"
That was his way to overcome the pain.
OKSANA: [IN RUSSIAN]
ERIKA: [IN ENGLISH] When he had a world record,
I said, "Your mom would be proud."
[SOBS]
[SNIFFLES]
[ALL CHEER]
[SPEAKING RUSSIAN] ALEXEY: [IN ENGLISH] My mom was a big leader
for the community.
All the actions and all, like, changes to the world
we do as individuals, it stays in the world.
Everything my mom did, it stays in the people.
And now there is no mom,
so I need to be that example for the community.
Now I have to train.
I have to be even better freediver, better example,
to continue what my mom was doing.
[ALL CHEER]
ALEXEY: She's still, like, with me
and with a lot of other people.
And when I'm in the water, in the sea,
I can feel it as well. And I'm happy with that.
[BREATHES DEEPLY]
I'm okay.
MAN:[ALL CHEER, APPLAUD]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
ALEXEY: [IN ENGLISH] Thank you very much. Thank you.
If I would have been there in Ibiza
the day that my mom disappeared,
that would never happen.
And that's sad, of course.
[MUSIC FADES]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
GUILLAUME: After you break a world record,
you need to take a rest day.
But still, Alexey goes to train harder
and to push his own limits.
Today he's diving no fins with a depth of 80 meters.
It's a huge depth in this discipline.
ANNOUNCER: Three, two, one, top times.
White card!
[ALL APPLAUD][INDISTINCT CHATTER]
ALEXEY: All in all, it was good,
especially after yesterday dive.
Like, I feel a bit of fatigue... [CHUCKLES] ...like, still.
My ultimate goal with no fins is to do
the world record, which is 103 meters.
Next competition is in Bahamas, Vertical Blue,
and I have just one month.
This year, I really trained a lot with no fins,
and now I feel confident in this.
[STIRRING MUSIC PLAYING]
ELIETTE: We are here on beautiful
Long Island in the Bahamas
for nine days of competitive freediving
from the best freedivers in the world.
My name is Eliette Rutledge,
and I'm super excited to be here.
I am accompanied by...
Harry McCahill. Absolute pleasure to be here.
ELIETTE: This is going to be an exciting competition.
Day one is starting out rough, really rough.
We're having a bunch of blackouts.
The problem lies in if it's a deep blackout.
If it's below 20 meters, that's a big deal.
ELIETTE: Alexey Molchanov,
the Russian 33-time world record champion,
is finally back after being banned last year
due to the Russian war in Ukraine.
SAM: None of us can be separate from politics.
This year, any athlete can compete,
but Russian athletes cannot compete under the Russian flag.
WILLIAM: The war still rages on.
So if it was the right decision then
to ban Russian athletes,
then, it will be the right decision now.
But it's great to have Alexey back.
ALEXEY: I have still two world records to get.
So now in Vertical Blue, the main goal for me is no fins
and to try to do the world record
in free immersion as well. Those two records is my goal.
[MUSIC FADES]
[STIRRING MUSIC PLAYING]
ELIETTE: We have some amazing dives coming your way,
especially that by Alexey Molchanov,
going to perform a world record attempt
to 133 meters in free immersion,
so pulling on the line.
ANNOUNCER: Alexey Molchanov,
free immersion, 133 meters world record attempt.
ELIETTE: One hundred and thirty-three
is no easy feat. However, Alexey has been training
super, super well.
Go, Alexey!
HARRY: Look at his streamlining. It's just unbelievable.
He's like a submarine.
Sixty meters.
Two minutes.
HARRY: Let's have a look. ELIETTE: Hey, there he goes.
HARRY: Oh my God. ELIETTE: Touchdown.
Definitely seeing how strong of a dive this is.
HARRY: Look at that, that white card.
Unbelievable.[CROWD CHEER]
HARRY: Alexey Molchanov's done it again.
INTERVIEWER: It is a huge production...
ALEXEY: Yeah. INTERVIEWER: ...filming you.
How does that factor into your mental state?
ALEXEY: I think it doesn't because I just really focus
on my routines.
I focus on my preparation breathing
and how to stay really focused.
Well, my wife, she sent me some pictures
of Max watching on the phone the live stream of my dive.
HARRY: Welcome back.
Now I'm joined by William Trubridge.
We've got a good second session coming up.
WILLIAM: Alexey is going for his no fins dive today.
HARRY: I'm guessing this dive to 95 meters
is basically his practice dive.
I bet he'll go for the 103-meter world record
no fins dive later in the competition.
WILLIAM: And this is the deepest he's done in a long time.
His condition, of course, is at the peak.
HARRY: There's one record that eludes him.
WILLIAM: You're right.
HARRY: Yes, he probably wants to make that move.
Down goes Alexey.
WILLIAM: A lot of his power comes from his legs, see.
HARRY: But he does have good upper body strength as well.
He got such a strong breath hold.
WILLIAM: His hands are knives going through that water.
HARRY: He's looking towards the surface
but doesn't have very far to go.
WILLIAM: Ah, just feeling a little hypoxic there
on the surface.
HARRY: He's a little dizzy from that lack of oxygen.
And he's giving the okay signal
before removing the nose clip, which is the incorrect protocol.
Yeah, that's a red card for Alexey.
WILLIAM: He was about as close as you could get
without getting a white card.
Sure he's capable of that depth and more,
and he still has three dives remaining.
This isn't the last no fins dive we'll see of Alexey
in this competition for sure.
[MUSIC FADES]
[ALEXEY PANTS]
Ninety-five no fins wasn't a great dive.
But usually, even if I'm physically not 100% ready,
I can mentally overcome this and like, still do the dive.
So I think I'm ready to try the world record
in the no fins.
[WHIMSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]
ELIETTE: Alexey announced 103 meters for no fins,
which is one above the world record.
ALEXEY: No fins.
That's the record I want the most.
2014 was the year
when I did my successful 96-meter dives
in the no fins discipline.
And then after this, I was not able to repeat
96 for many, many years.
One of the big factors was that in 2014,
after the accident with my mom, I had other things to deal with
and couldn't handle dealing with no fins.
My mom held a world record in no fins.
It would be to repeat this,
same like my mom did.
And I feel much more ready now than ever before.
ELIETTE: William Trubridge has the current world record
for 102 and he has held that record
since 2016
without anybody ever really coming close to it.
This year, he's not competing,
but this has been one of his longest standing records.
It will be a punch to the gut for him.
No fins is the hardest discipline
in freediving, the most pure,
the most demanding.
It requires of somebody to almost live like a monk
and just train that for years.
ALEXEY: The announcement for 103
was to put the number out there
and see how everybody reacts and see how I react
to me announcing this depth.
DAAN: I was flabbergasted by his announcement of 103
because we saw him do the 95, and he was on the edge.
I don't understand the reasoning
for adding eight meters to a dive that you failed.
MAN 1: Maybe his ego got the better of him.
DAAN: If Natalia was around
if she saw that announcement of 103 meters,
she'd tell him, "You're an idiot."
KRISTINE:
WILLIAM: If he has a white card on this performance,
I still wouldn't be able to understand.
MAN 2:
ANNOUNCER: Alexey Molchanov,
constant weight, no fins, 103 meters.
World record attempt.
[PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING]
ELIETTE: Today, he's had a couple of days rest
leading up to this dive.
So it's definitely very mental for him.
HARRY: This is a big dive, even for Alexey Molchanov.
ELIETTE: This is such a big moment
in freediving history.
HARRY: Think he'll make it? ELIETTE: Yes.
Fifty meters.
HARRY: He's making good speed.
His free fall is beautiful.
Oh, my God! [CROWD CHEER]
[CHEERING]
HARRY: He looks good. He's got a nice glide as well.
This looks good.
Fifty meters, having a little glance up.
ANNOUNCER: Forty meters.
HARRY: That glance could mean he's getting tired,
and he is still a long way down.
First safety.
And he's had a little dolphin kick here.
Could be another sign of fatigue.
Thirty meters.
HARRY: It's going to be right on his dive time, probably.
[MUSIC DISTORTS]
[MUSIC FADES]
[TENSE MUSIC PLAYING]
HARRY: He's had a deep blackout.
Breathe, Alexey. Breathe.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
[MUSIC FADES]
[MUFFLED VOICES]
[DEVICE BEEPING]
WILLIAM: To black out at 30 meters,
it's not a close call.
It means that that dive
was far beyond your capabilities.
It's a sport where we have to be mindful
of the fact that if we do something
that stretches us beyond our capabilities,
we're not just putting ourselves in jeopardy.
we're putting this whole safety team in jeopardy.
We're putting the event and the image of the sport
in jeopardy as well.
[DEVICE BEEPING]
WILLIAM: And I don't think
that result was good for any party.
I'm glad to be talking to you. That was very scary for us.
ALEXEY: Yeah, it was a hard day.
It is very rarely I have these blackouts,
and in no fins,
it's pretty much the only discipline
I might have it, right, because you saw with all
the other disciplines, it's like for the whole season,
it was zero, zero blackouts.
And no fins is just, like, tricky, very tricky.
DAAN: Alexey is so clever.
Then every once in a while, he does that thing
that clever people do.
You make a really stupid mistake.
He's carrying a lot on his shoulders,
Natalia's legacy. That's a lot to carry.
NARRATOR: The ocean...
[PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: ...however silent,
a racing mind deafens.
And though it has no physical form,
ego rips us to ribbons.
In our realm, struggling at all is failure.
Value doesn't exist in meters or medals.
It lives in silence.
Harmony...
joy.
So, when our greatest rival is ourself,
we return to the beginning.
Balance is how we discover...
who we really are.
[MUSIC FADES]
ALEXEY: It's been like eight years
since the day that my mom disappeared...
but the sensation of us traveling together
and training together is always with me.
[ENIGMATIC MUSIC PLAYING]
ALEXEY: My mom's approach as a coach was she trained hard,
but then she played in the water
because she wanted me to enjoy the sport,
enjoy the competition.
But there is much more to freediving.
There is ocean,
sea life.
There's adventures.
That's why we do this because
joy is a big part of freediving.
Like, it's like enjoying being on the water.
HUGUES: They're playing.
Good news...
we locate them.
We have to go south.
SVETLANA: I hope that we will see sperm whales.
We had a newborn
just a little bit more than one week ago.
So when they have newborns, whales normally is quite slow
because the baby is not swimming fast.
Sperm whales,
one of the best divers in the planet.
They can dive up to 2,000 meters.
Sometimes they are breached,
and then they are going like this.
And from the deep, they-- bloop-bloop-bloop.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY]
ALEXEY: Breach, breach!
Get ready. Ask them to be ready.
ALEXEY: Being a freediver in the ocean
allows us to use our skill to see something
and experience something that is really hard to do
and something really beautiful.
Look at them.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Okay, go. Please go, go, go.
HUGUES: This animal hunt in the deep.
And in the abyss, there is no light.
So to see their environment, they need echolocation.
[WHALES CLICK]
HUGUES: When the whale does scanning,
it is a series of clicks.
The whale's scanning you to know who you are
and what you're feeling.
It's something incredible.
The whole body of that whale may be 30 tons...
but they will be afraid
of anything that could be a danger to them.
But when they feel it is not the case
they will just accept you as one of theirs.
[ALEXEY GRUNTS]
Epic would be an understatement.
Oh, my God.
[MUSIC FADES]
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
ALEXEY: My mom, she always said to me
that sports is just part of life and like, it's not enough.
It's important to have results in other areas of life.
[BOTH SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
ALEXEY: [IN ENGLISH] For me, it's important to become
a better father, a better husband...
because I know this will make me much more happy
than these extra records and extra achievements.
[SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]
ELIETTE: Good morning, everybody.
Welcome to Roatán, Honduras.
Today, we have the most demanding discipline,
the no fins discipline.
ALEXEY: I lost a lot of confidence
with no fins after Bahamas.
I'm used to diving really well, not having blackouts.
It's frustrating.
It was hard to accept that I'm not 100% ready
to do this 103-meter dive.
My mom, she always reminded me
the numbers of meter and medals don't matter.
Even though I really want to do the world record,
I don't want to push it and to make it too dangerous.
I want to be around for my family.
ELIETTE: And now we have our deepest diver
of the day, Alexey Molchanov,
going for 100 meters.
He is scaling back just a few meters today
after his deep blackout at Vertical Blue.
ANNOUNCER: Alexey Molchanov, 100 meters.
ALEXEY: I changed the way I approached diving...
Eighty down.
ALEXEY: ...in terms of having less chances
of getting blackout.
MAN: Ninety down. ALEXEY: Because I realized
I have to be even better freediver,
better example for my kid Max.
MAN: Diver inside and okay.
ALEXEY: When he gets a bit older,
I'm really looking forward to have him around more
and dive together.
MAN: Diver approaching.
[BREATHES HEAVILY]
I'm okay.
You have a white card.[ALL CHEER, APPLAUD]
That was the best white card in my life.
Like, I know from all previous years, for sure.
[LAUGHS]
After all these world records, even though I didn't do exactly
what I wanted to do with no fins,
I did everything I could.
I'm really happy.
[IN RUSSIAN]
[IN ENGLISH] My mom would be very proud of me...
[IN RUSSIAN]
[IN ENGLISH] ...and she was very much waiting
for the grandkids.
So of course, I'm sad she never met my son.
That bothers me.
But I know Max would be very proud to know
that he had such a great grandmother.
Telling him her story...
will help him to be inspired
and motivated to do something he loves.
That's what stories make us do...
be proud of our family
and pushes us to have a better life.
[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[BOTH SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
[MUSIC FADES]
[SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]
♪ And sometimes
♪ We're just memories inside ♪
♪ And sometimes ♪
♪ We are holding on to life ♪
♪ And sometimes ♪
♪ There are whispers In the sea ♪
♪ And sometimes ♪
♪ They are searching To be free ♪
♪ And then the seas Will glow ♪
♪ And I feel it when I sway by your side ♪
♪ Held onto the tale Of your life ♪
♪ And those secrets ♪
♪ Of the deep
♪ And searching
♪ For those dreams That we cannot see ♪
♪ And you're searching ♪
♪ And you're yearning To be free ♪
♪ And I hear that ♪
♪ You can tell Our voices in the rain ♪
♪ And they're telling you ♪
♪ Telling you You will not be tamed ♪
♪ Then the tide will flow ♪
♪ And I feel it When I sway by your side ♪
♪ Held onto the tale Of your life ♪
♪ And I know that I hold onto your side ♪
♪ And I trust that It'll be all right ♪
♪ And those secrets
♪ Of the deep
[SONG FADES]
[MYSTERIOUS MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC FADES]