Natalia Zharkova wins the Gold medal with -113m in CWT at the 2025 CMAS Outdoor Freediving World Championship in Mytikas, Greece. Splendid results also by the Italians Alessia Zecchini and Chiara Obino at the Silver (-109m) and bronze (-106m) for the two excellent Champions.
We also spoke with the Italians about the approach to the dive they had after the accident involving the strong Russian athlete Andrey Matveenko, who is still in difficult conditions due to the apparently late and not optimal safety interventions.
In the meantime, no official statement at all from the Communication Department of CMAS, a very unprofessional and worrying approach, which simply adds on top of the poor safety procedures put in place.
Alessia Zecchini – Silver (-109m)
“The goal today was to make a beautiful dive with good feelings. Yes, Andrey’s accident affected me a lot. I was scared, because narcosis is something that can still have a huge impact on a dive beyond 110m. So I just wanted a beautiful dive that would give me good sensations, without worrying about the medal. For me what was important was to enjoy every moment and be beautiful underwater, and I hope that was the case, so I’m really very happy”.
Chiara Obino – Bronze (-106m)
“Obviously Andrey’s accident is something that truly shocked everyone, and it somewhat changed the whole emotional approach to the competition. Fortunately, or maybe thanks to the way I approach the dive with a lot of awareness, I don’t suffer from narcosis, so I’m a bit calmer when I make the declaration. I knew anyway that I was aiming for the bronze. I could have done something more, but not Alessia’s depth.
The issue is that when you know that the safety conditions are not ideal, of course this affects your ability to perform. The problem with Andrey was also partly due to the fact that the rescue teams did not have the timing that is required in this type of accident. Probably, the seriousness of the accident also depends on that. The subject of deep dives is very complex, with the risk of Taravana, Narcosis and Squeeze, which is probably what happened to Andrey, but we still don’t know exactly the situation (no info from CMAS – Editor’s note).
It is certainly a moment of reflection for everyone, the organization, CMAS, to set up a safety and assistance system for the injured athlete as effective as possible. Naturally, all the athletes’ thoughts go strongly to Andrey, hoping that he can recover completely as soon as possible. In some way, this competition day was dedicated to him”.
