DATELINE: 30th November 2000

FREE-DIVING WORLDS

British free-divers reached their greatest-ever depths during October's Free-diving World Cup, held by world organising body AIDA at Saint Jean Cap Ferrat, between Nice and Monaco.
Men's and women's teams from 23 countries competed in two of the sport's many disciplines: Constant Weight, in which the diver fins down and back under his own steam; and Static Apnea, a timed breath-hold in a swimming pool.
Britain's men's team of Lee Donnelly, Julian Allen-Ellis and Ben Gowland finished 13th overall out of 23, while the women's team of Anne Marie Kitchen-Wheeler, Amanda Williams and Mary Naylor were placed fifth out of just nine teams entered, in their first international outing.
"The final results don't convey the high points these divers achieved," said Howard Jones, the former men's team captain who accompanied the group. Standards had risen since the last world championships two years ago, he said: "Before, only one man - Umberto Pelizzari - went below 60m. This time, eight divers exceeded 60m, the deepest going to 67m."
This year, Pelizzari eschewed diving for a team support role but other well-known competitive divers, including Brett LeMaster, Fred Buyle and Loic Leferme, took part.
The competition was marked by fewer blackouts than the last event, though there were still nine in Constant Weight and three in Static Apnea. "People are now more experienced and realise this is a team effort, so they were playing that little bit safer," said Jones. "If you black out you're disqualified, which can mark down your team position appreciably."
Free-diving has yet to register as a fundable sport in Britain. All British team members paid their own way to France.

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