For the third consecutive year, I find myself in Riva del Garda for the Italian Outdoor Freediving Championships. This is the fifth year in a row that the Italian championships, organized by FIPSAS and led by Michele Geraci, are held at the lake.

Although diving in a lake in a country like Italy, with over 7,500 km of coastline, might seem less appealing, the number of participants continues to grow each year.

In the first year, there were 50 athletes; this year, we will exceed 80 participants, with more than 130 dives spread across three competition fields, making this the national championship with the most participants in the world.

From an organizational perspective, diving in the Mediterranean in September can bring many uncertainties, such as currents and rough seas. The lake, however, offers more predictable conditions: the water will always be cold and dark! But on the positive side, the scenery is breathtaking, and the organization by the Riva del Garda Divers Group, led by Graziano Marchi, is impeccable.

Despite the challenging lake conditions, such as cold and dark waters, the average depths reached often exceed those announced for the sea, averaging between 60 and 70 meters.

On a personal note, I arrived in Riva del Garda a week ago, initially finding surface water at 15 degrees, a 10-degree drop from previous days due to local rain—a stark contrast to the warm waters of Dominica where I had been training previously.

A week into the championship, the surface temperature has risen to 23 degrees, while the depth remains at a steady 7 degrees. Once again, this year, high-level athletes will be competing, including Vincenzo Ferri (world record holder in monofin and bifins), Chiara Obino (who broke my monofin world record last year), Paola Zanaga, Stefano Byloos, Pietro Angiolini, and Anna Karina (who took my world record in bifins last year).

This year, I will be aiming to reclaim a World Record, and my training is going very well. Among the high-level new entries, Davide Carrera will also be competing, aiming to set World Records in both disciplines, directly challenging Vincenzo Ferri for the titles.

Photos by Federico Buzzoni