Davis breaks records!

Alex Davis dove to new depths at the 2018 Vertical Blue competition in the Bahamas to break his own records, set last year, and post four new Barbados national records in free diving.

After only starting his free diving competitive career last year for Barbados, Alex Davis has developed a trend, breaking records. Firstly he went into the darkness without fins and glided down to a depth of 55m (180ft) to break the Constant Weight (CWT) No Fin national record. He then set a new record in the Free Immersion (FIM) category where the young athlete pulled his way down to 81m (265ft). Finally deeper he went into Dean’s Blue Hole and and when he broke surface and presented his Velcro tag, the judges signaled with the white cars that he had also broken the free diving national record with fins with a dive of 89m (292ft) but then took that further by breaking it again in a second dive with a mark of 92m (302ft) for the CWT record with fins.

Davis also bettered his position in last year's competition, placing 6th out of 29 males, up 3 spots from 9th. The competition turnout was bigger this year at the Association for Development of Apnea (AIDA) backed event with 44 participants. The mild mannered diver commented on his performances.

“All of my dives went really well and they were all personal bests for me besides the national records. My goal really was to go get some fresh records for the island and keep the flag going. They tend to make a bigger deal out of it when it is a national or world record so it was good exposure for the island.”

There were 44 national records brokan the 2018 event and ten world records which was unprecedented. After last year's efforts, visitors have come to Barbados to visit and experience freediving with Davis through Freediving Barbados. The entrepreneur is also making strides towards the launch of the Barbados Freediving Federation next year with the vision of developing the sport on the island.

The record holder also thanked his sponsor Ryan Pannell of Synergis for aiding his cause last year and this year. He suggested that Pannell has the same vision for freediving in Barbados. Freediving Barbados can be found on both Facebook and Instagram. (AS)