Yesterday the official part of the Adriatic Depth Trophy 2020 competition, AIDA and CMAS freediving competition, which takes place on Krk, more precisely near Plavnik, started. After two days of official training and getting used to the judging and safety team, the first day of the real exam was put in front of Vitomir Maričić, who is included not only as an organizer, but also as a competitor and defender of last year’s title.
“I’m not going to say that everything is going smoothly, I have to admit that this is one of the most demanding projects in my life, but the feedback from the competitiors is such that it’s obvious that they don’t feel what’s going on behind the scenes. This is a really great team work and team building of AIDA Croatia and local people and helpers. Each of our competitor after the dive and before the dive is looking to help make everything even better. I think everyone is here more as a team than as an individual. Volunteers, safety divers, everyone who is here with us set aside a week on the high seas for this event. We have an excellent team of doctors. Also world-class judges who help with their experience. It’s hard, but that’s why we can say that in the covid year we made one of the biggest and most important competitions. – comments Vitomir Maričić.
The competition is attractive because competitors can choose any discipline, with or without fins throughout all 5 days of the competition. This allows them to achieve the best result, although, as divers say, it is difficult to dive in Kvarner. And since the criteria for registration of world records according to the AIDA and CMAS World Federation for competitive freediving are met, some of the most famous and best divers are gathered on Krk today. The arrival of Alexey Molchanov, the world’s best depth player, is expected, who is definitely a candidate for a world record wherever he appears. Thibault Guignes, among the best divers last year, is also there in the hunt for a world record. And the women’s competition is there, current world champion Fatima Korok and former world record holder Sahika Ercumen will fight for the women’s title in the turbulent sea of Kvarner. www.adriaticfreediving.com is a site where you can follow the events and results, and all those interested can gather on the competition boat and see from first line what it looks like in this extreme sport.
Igor Hrast, co-organizer of the competition, among many innovative sports projects such as the Activity Center Krk, outdoor gym and training park that delights domestic and foreign members from year to year, highlights this as the sporting event of the year. And within the Activity center Krk, the Activity freediving base was opened this year, the first Croatian freediving center behind which Vitomir Maričić stands by the profession, and where it is possible to train and get professional education for beginners, advanced, but even freediving instructors.
“We always want to be one step ahead, watch what’s going on in the world, and bring people something new. ACK is the beginning and platform for athletes and enthusiasts, which support the development of sports and events like this. Now it is a diving competition that prompted the opening of the first freediving center in our country, but also in the plans are an extreme park, new gym, adrenaline polygons and so on. We as a city invest in researching the needs of the world market and the development of the local area through sports tourism and community development. We can all thank the smart leadership of the City of Krk and local entrepreneurship, sponsors and support of citizens. Without that, it would be impossible to realize such globally important sports projects that put us on the sports tourism map in a completely new context. – comments Igor Hrast.
Last year, Petar Klovar won the annual AIDA Croatia award for debutant of the year, which can be won in two debut seasons, and is someone to be reckoned with in the future of Croatian freediving. He decided to share his activity as a competitor through the Diving Club Ocean from Rijeka, where it is possible to train and progress in this interesting sport.
“Freediving has brought me a lot of beautiful things, but also sports in general and I enjoy passing it on. We in Rijeka have excellent conditions, especially for pool freediving and what was missing and what we were constantly asked at freediving courses was the club that would serve as a base for learning, development and socializing of freedivers. We are in the beginning now, but we already have a small team that gathers for trainings, and I believe that when people hear about it, they will be interested in practicing this interesting sport on a regular basis. – comments Petar Klovar.
“As the president of AIDA Croatia, I see competitions as our goal and priority, to bring sports and competitions closer to new people, to hold competitions at the highest level for other competitors. Although the year is really ungrateful for planning, we managed to do 2 pool competitions and 2 deep ones. This is definitely the finale of everything and something we couldn’t even imagine working on. A competition with world record status for both federations in freediving, with such a start list, two competition lines, 7 days… These are really world-renowned things. Competitors who comment that organizational conditions are better than the World Cup are the best prize and an indication that we have a right to expect this to become an important point on the calendar in the coming years. I hope that the weather conditions will be on our side and that we will be even better with time” – concluded Vitomir Maričić.
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