Trubridge in 2010
Trubridge while freediving

William Trubridge MNZM (born 24 May 1980) is a New Zealand world champion and world record holding freediver.

Trubridge was the first diver to go deeper than 100 metres (330 ft) without oxygen and as of 2013 held the world record in the free immersion and constant weight without fins disciplines.[1]

Life

Trubridge was born in Northumberland in northern England,[2] but moved with his family to New Zealand when he was eighteen months old.[3]

As a diver, Trubridge mainly competes in depth disciplines. He has scored the highest number of points for an individual at the Team's World Championships, 313.3, which he achieved at the 2010 Freediving Team's World Championships held in Okinawa, Japan.

On 18 January 2011, Trubridge won the World's Absolute Freediver Award (WAFA), as the best all around freediver, with the highest combined score in six freediving disciplines: static apnea, dynamic apnea with fins, dynamic apnea without fins (pool disciplines), constant weight apnea with fins, constant weight without fins, and free immersion (depth disciplines).

Trubridge is an Apnea Academy instructor and as of 2013 operated a freediving school and annual competition, both called Vertical Blue, at Dean's Blue Hole in Long Island, Bahamas from September to May. During the summer he teaches courses in Europe and has trained at the Tenerife Top Training Center.

Trubridge was the main subject of a documentary entitled "Breathe" directed by Martin Khodabakhshian, which documents Trubridge's pursuits in 2010 to become the first free diver ever to reach 300 feet with a single breath in the discipline of constant weight no fins.[4]

On 15 February 2019 Trubridge became the first man to complete an 'underwater crossing' of one of the major channels, swimming across the Cook Strait as a series of 934 breath hold dives. He wore fins and swam with a dolphin kick horizontally underwater at a depth between 3–5 meters, surfacing only for short recoveries during which he remained immobile. The crossing took 9 hours 15 minutes and was done to raise awareness of the plight of New Zealand's Hector's and Māui dolphins, which are both threatened with extinction due predominantly to over-fishing in their ranges.

Trubridge (left), after his investiture as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit by the governor-general, Dame Cindy Kiro, at Government House, Wellington, on 10 December 2021

In the 2021 New Year Honours, Trubridge was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to free diving.[5]

World records

  • 81 m (265.74 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 9 April 2007
  • 82 m (269.02 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 11 April 2007
  • 84 m (275.59 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 4 April 2008
  • 107 m (351.04 ft) Free Immersion, 8 April 2008
  • 86 m (282.15 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 10 April 2008
  • 108 m (354.33 ft) Free Immersion, 11 April 2008
  • 88 m (288.71 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 10 April 2009
  • 90 m (295.27 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 3 December 2009
  • 92 m (301.83 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 19 April 2010
  • 116 m (380.57 ft) Free Immersion, 22 April 2010
  • 95 m (311.67 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 26 April 2010
  • 96 m (314.96 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 10 December 2010
  • 100 m (328.08 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 14 December 2010
  • 101 m (331.36 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 16 December 2010
  • 121 m (396.98 ft) Free Immersion, 10 April 2011
  • 122 m (~400 ft) Free Immersion, 30 April 2016
  • 124 m (~407 ft) Free Immersion, 2 May 2016[6]
  • 102 m (334.65 ft) Constant Weight without fins, 21 July 2016[7]

Personal bests

DisciplineResultAccreditation
Time STA 7:29minAIDA
Distance DNF 187mAIDA
DYN 237mAIDA
Depth CNF 102mAIDA
CWT 121mAIDA
CWT BF CMAS
FIM 124mAIDA
VWT
NLT
Team 313.3ptsAIDA

References

  1. ↑ NZPA (6 December 2009). "Kiwi sets new diving record". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
  2. ↑ "William Trubridge" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007: "William Trubridge / Apr-May-Jun 1980 / Northumberland West / Mother's Maiden Name: King / Volume Number: 1 / Page Number: 2115", ancestry.com accessed 29 November 2020 (subscription required)
  3. ↑ Rossier, Nicolas. "One Breath - The Story of William Trubridge (Shorter Version)". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2013 – via YouTube.
  4. ↑ "Breathe (2011)". IMDb. IMDb.com, Inc. 27 February 2013. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  5. ↑ "New Year honours list 2021". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
  6. ↑ McPhate, Mike William Trubridge Breaks Record for Deepest Dive Into Ocean, Then Does It Again New York Times. 21 May 2016
  7. ↑ Fairfax New Zealand Limited Kiwi freediver William Trubridge sets world record stuff.co.nz. 21 July 2016
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