Gonzalo cortes Journey to the Depths: A Year of Preparation for two Freediving World Championships
Participating in the Depth Freediving World Championships was both a humbling and exhilarating experience—one that I’ll carry with me forever. I didn’t begin as an athlete; I was simply drawn to the ocean and the silent depths that seemed to call to me. As I stood on the brink of competition, I reflected on the year of dedication that had brought me here.
A decision was made
My decision to start training for a big competition happened in September 2023, after reaching and passing my first 60 meter at a buoy session in Panglao (even though I could not reach in the previous days at the competition I took part in). A day after, flying back home to the Gold Coast, Australia, I decided that I could train, and try to take part on a big depth freediving competition, and for that I needed committed and disciplined training, but most importantly guided and coached if I wanted to get a less stumbled progression. So I did and over twelve months, I devoted myself to a strict schedule of pool sessions, gym workouts, specific diet and of course dry training using some apps to help my development.
Starting my preparation
The preparation prior depth I believe was the most crucial way to develop and progress my depth, way more than the depth training itself. As I committed to slowly progress into consistency with easy sessions at the pool and gym, I ended up with consistent sessions of gym, pool workout, dry apnea sessions and almost daily lung stretching session, switching this last one between diaphragmatic stretching and ribcage mobility.
While I worked to improve my physical strength and lung capacity, the pool also became a space for mental conditioning, teaching me resilience with every CO2 session where I was introduced to the now well known “CO2 headaches”. In the same way, I found out thanks to my colleagues and coaches that my technique needed some important refining and tuning, balancing physical exertion with the need to remain relaxed and composed regardless of the feelings in my body and mind.
At the gym, I focus on my core and leg strength without giving any less attention to my lactate (frequently mistaken with lactic acid) tolerance and joint mobility, areas frequently forgotten by me but essential for freediving. Stamina and overall endurance was most frequently worked out at the pool with swimming drills or with some running.
Diet was another cornerstone of my training. I embraced nutrient-rich, high-protein foods, focusing on meals that would support recovery, muscle tone, and energy reserves. It was challenging to resist indulgences, which if you know me, could be an absolute challenge as icecream and chocolate have been essential components of my weekly meals. In the end I ended up reducing and not cutting any of my indulgences, there was no need to punish my soul for the sake of my body performance.
One of the most challenging aspects of preparation was dry equalization. As the problems with equalization usually don’t stop, they just evolve or progress, meaning the same thing happens later, or the solution to one problem rates a new one. I practiced tirelessly with nose clips, home made artifacts and balloons, all of them often under the critical eye of people passing by. Dry equalization demanded patience and precision, and at times it was frustratingly difficult. The intensity of these exercises did not stop during my time approaching new depths, I was really committed to not let my equalization be my limiting factor.
Approaching depth
It was only when I arrived in the Philippines in April 2024, after a bit more than half a year of pool and dry training, that I decided to see where I was and how much I could translate from my pool training to the depth. So then I arrived at the Double K training centre and platform in Cebu, Philippines. During the next two weeks I decided to embrace a depth journey, safely increasing my depth little by little in all four depth disciplines.
I finished that trip, surpassing that sixty meter marker again and again, using bifins, monofin and pulling the line. Although I could not reach seventy metres on my last attempt and on my no fins attempt I took me sixteen seconds to compose myself and complete the surface protocol. So then, I was introduced to two new problems I haven’t had to face before: mindset, as the number seventy was sitting heavy on my head, and hypoxia, as I reached the CO2 tolerance where it could now surpass my O2 tolerance levels. But also a very important concept that I discovered was that it wasn’t always easy to comfort in the line before a competition dive, and the regular habits before it. So I decided that I needed to include more competitions as part of my training, getting used to each step of my breath up and relaxation stage as this is matching the countdown.
After that, I took part in the Australian Pool National Championship, where I found out where all this pool training actually got me as my numbers did improve in a comfortable 50% being able to do a third turn in the 50m pool. With this confidence I was ready to embrace the seventy meter chase.
Right after that I took a plane straight to Amed to continue my depth progression, passing seventy meters became a comfortable habit, however, I started to feel like that was way too comfortable and it would be right to start chasing greater depths, even though it was seventy meters my year’s goal.
Soon after, while trying to reach eighty in the very controlled progression, I faced a new problem, overtraining, this is not a new thing in this sport, but surely it was for me as I knew about it, but though it would never happen to me. It started with early turns between seventy and seventy five, for then turning into a stage where I could not get past over twenty meters.
I then took a step back, dedicating and focusing my training to meditation, visualisation, and rest. During this whole time everyone helping me told me several times: “you need to rest”, “you are going to burn yourself”. I did listen, but as depth progression works, with one dive a session, resting feels like a waste of time, nothing further than the truth.
I left Amed and flew back to Cebu to take part in competitions, and if possible, maybe reach eighty meters, a number that I considered until then a number completely out of my reach. It was two weeks that I did not do any breathhold, gym or anything out of visualization or meditation, I loaded my body on protein and magnesium hoping that this combination would help me recover better.
I started to reduce the amount of warm ups for my dives in Amed, as I knew the water in Europe where the world championships were going to be held, and those waters were going to be cold and with thermoclines, so the time in the water needed to be as short as possible in order to not tired your body in it.
So there I was, after fourteen days dry, I jumped into my new DoubleK custom made wetsuit, and jumped in the water for my first dive, it was the Philippines Depth Nationals, I got a white card in my seventy meter attempt. There I realised how important rest was. In the same competition I performed my first eighty meter dive, I did it with a monofin dive to obtain a new NR in CWT.
The following weeks I spent in Cebu were all the same, repeated deep dives in all four disciplines, gym and lots of rest. Every time a competition was announced, I would take part in it.
The 2024 AIDA DEPTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
By the end of August I got to test the waters of the Mediterranean for the first time. As expected and known, the waters of Ajaccio in Corsica were calm, The thermoclines forced me to wear googles (filled with surface water) to avoid swallowing my mouthfill, and the overall colder temperatures forced me to wear a way thicker wetsuit, and therefore more weight, the whole set up was pretty much new to me. With just a few days before the competitions started, I had to adopt new habits and adapt as soon as possible.
When I finally stood on the platform for my first performance, I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude. Competing in the World Championships wasn’t about winning; it was about challenging myself and so I did. The first day of male performances for the competition was CNF (Constant Weight No Fins). As I descended into the silence of the ocean, nothing could possibly disturbed me, and as soon as I finished my dive I knew I had achieved something deeply personal and powerful. This experience reminded me that growth is a journey, and every challenge brings its own rewards. After a very wobbly recovery I was able to pull it through and complete the surface protocol, achieving with this my so-far deepest CNF dive a fifty five metre national record, surpassing by a metre my previous record.
Freediving is a path of humility and self-discovery, and this experience has become an indelible part of who I am. As I would usually do, my next number in my progression was to reach again eighty metres, but this time in bifins. I knew depthwise I had the adaptation needed and so the equalisation, I just needed to trust that my legs were going to bring me back. And since I had banked the hours at the gym and pool, it was only a new dive, just a few meters over my previous PB and so I got again a white card and with this a new national record.
Turning Point
Competing at the Depth World Championships wasn’t something I initially set out to achieve, however, once there it is hard not to give all you got and try to bring yourself to the deepest you can go. This is how I let myself announce an extra meter over my PB for the Day 3 (FIM). I announced eightytwo meters for this. It was meant to be a hard dive, but nothing I haven’t done before. However the weather had other plans, that day got postponed to the end of the event, and so now we had to announce what would be Day 4. For many of us, who do not train one specific discipline, we tend to announce a performance considering the outcome of our previous one, never the less, I had to announce CWT, and I choose to announce as if I had a successful dive, eighty-four metres, also a PB, but this dive, opposite to the eightytwo in FIM, should not be so hard to come back.
After a couple of days of waiting, the weather got better and we had to perform the announced performances but in opposite order, Day 3 was now going to be CWT and Day 4 was for FIM. The day of my performance I became part of the statistics, early turning just before sixtyfive, as I went past the second thermocline but my mouthfill chose not to. As it would be irresponsible of me to keep going, I grab the line and turn. After points punishments for the ET, I collected only 43 points. Not so different was my CWT (Day 4) performance when I only got to collect 73 points after early turning at seventy eight meters out of the eighty two announced.
Being surrounded by huge athletes who had set world records and achieved remarkable feats, it was easy to feel small. Especially after a couple of yellow cards on dives I considered doables. Even on white cards my dives were modest in comparison to the champions, but for me, each dive was a moment of gratitude and accomplishment. The experience taught me that participation itself was a victory, a testament to years of quiet perseverance and dedication. I finished in overall position #13 and #8 in the CWTB discipline. So I guess I could say I made it to the top-ten at a freediving world championship.
At this stage, there is not much to do but to rest and focus on the next one, it was only 3 weeks before the start of the next WC.
The 2024 CMAS DEPTH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Soon after I left Ajaccio, and following a very strict rest plan, I arrived in Kalamata, Greece. As soon as I arrived, I was ready to test the waters there. The ocean was colder than my usual training waters in Cebu, but way less cold and aggressive than Ajaccio, the thermoclines were not as sharp and intense, but a bit more gradual. This made me feel that maybe I could secure my previous depths, I just needed to be sure again about the gear I was going to wear.
On my training dives, I was reaching my target’s depths, unless I dove without the googles. So I had to stick to them and then just switch between my wetsuits. Naturally, because this could not be too easy, I lost my torch to the unreachable bottom of the ocean as the artifact created with strong magnets did not hold on the 3mm hood. For me this was important, opening my eyes and noticing that they were actually open was not a welcoming feeling below a certain depth. Kalamata’s depths had a particular darkness after seventy meters, you could feel a hug of darkness surrounding you, and as romantic this could sound, it is not.
I was ready to continue progressing to surpass eightyfive meters and maybe reach ninety meters on the last performance. At the same time, this was my first CMAS Depth Competition, which was a big crucial difference compared to the AIDA one. In AIDA my competition numbers have been gradually increasing, meaning that when I was announcing an eighty meter dive, maybe my official number was already seventy eight, which means that I had nothing really to lose. Meanwhile in CMAS, my numbers were zero, meaning that any depth announcement that I would not reach, was going to bring me back to zero. I had to sit down and rethink my numbers.
Day 1 of the comp was CWT (monofin) I chose to declare eighty metres. A number that I owe in my dobby and head. Since it is important to start with a good dive and I have passed this depth in three different disciplines including this one, I thought the risk was acceptable. And so it was, as expected my equalization worked properly all the way down, grabbed the tag and went back. A strong yet easy recovery followed by a white card gave me my very first CMAS National Record, the very first one that my federation would recognise.
For Day 2, after a day of rest, I was ready to go again, this time it was FIM and so I declared eighty meters once again. I felt the need to push a bit deeper but as I had promised myself I needed to aim for white cards as there was no valid reason to go deeper, especially if I was going to dive no fins in the next event. Although this was another white card, the comeback confirmed that that decision was right and any extra meter could have been the thin line between a white and a red card, as I felt not only lactic on my shoulders on every pull, but also quite hypoxic towards the end of my dive.
With 2 out of 2 dives and after noticing some serious fatigue, which could lead to feeling overtrained, for Day 3 I decided not to push to the sixty meters with no fins, even though I felt ready for it. Doing all four disciplines is more a game of length and not sprint. So I decided again to keep it conservative. A fiftyfive meter dive gave another record. After finetuning my setup this dive felt way easier than my previous CNF to fiftysix in the AIDA WC. One more day to go and the mood is up.
By now, I felt I could send it, the last dive of the season, and all my previous dives were positive.
All the equalization training was showing up, but my body was undoubtedly tired. Hanging around the freediving legends gave me some perspective, and good advice. I decided to just increase by one meter my previous competition PB. Conservative increase and yet very celebrable (I came up with this word, please use it and love it) if achieved.
It was Day 4 and waking up was not a very easy thing to do. I was not feeling like diving, or anything that wasn’t resting. The eightyone meters that I announced and a day before seemed easy to achieve. Now this morning, it started to look unachievable, just because I was not feeling it. But, it was the last dive, I had to bother some many people for me to be there. The least I could do was to show up and do my best, and so I did.
I showed up at the platform, did my regular sequence and continued repeating my regular mantras: “just another dive”, “just like we trained”, “nothing new, it is not even hard”, “you love doing this”.
As the countdown reached the ‘Official Top’ I was finishing my last inhale to then place my face in the water, duckdive and start my performance. My legs were tired and felt heavy, but it was only the beginning, so I told myself “just reach freefall and see what happens” and so when I was freefalling asking myself how I was going to pull through more than eighty meters back I was telling myself “this is it, last one, all these months of intense training are for this tag down there”. My equalization failed as I swallowed my mouthfill right at my bottom alarm at seventy seven meters, however, I knew I needed no more to reach the bottom so I grabbed the candy cane, grabbed the tag and started to kick my way back.
As my legs would feel heavy and lactate would gain protagonism on any single movement, I continued my kicks as I knew there was only one way to get out and was being consistent on my kicks. I get a more aquadynamic position as I bring my hands up and soon after I see the first safety, I knew I was safe and just needed to push through. Once I heard my surface alarm, I let go of my noseclip and with it some air to protect my lungs. Strong recovery and after thirty seconds I got my fourth white card, a new comp PB and the end of a season on the biggest hype.
I hope this motivates more freedivers to join the club and start competing.
Gonzalo
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