Shell Eisenberg of Northern California surprised the USA Freediving world by capturing her first USA Women’s National Freediving Record in the freediving discipline of Dynamic No Fins with a swim of 125 meters / 410 feet.
Just shy of her 24th birthday, the freediving instructor from Northern California smashed a long standing USA women’s national record in the pool discipline of dynamic no-fins (DNF) with a stunning performance of 125m in a dive time of two minutes and :49 seconds at the PFI Deja Blue 6 competition in Cayman. Shell added five meters / sixteen feet on to the previous record of 120 meters / 394 feet, set by Annabel Edwards of Hawaii in 2009 at the AIDA Individual Indoor Freediving World Championships in Denmark. Shell’s swim took place at the Caymana Bay Athletic Club pool on the island of Grand Cayman, BWI. Her performance was completed in the twenty-five meter pool of the club and verified by two AIDA judges.
Shell said of her performance, “I’ve been training quietly for the past eight months. I’m also very fortunate to have had some excellent coaching from my friend Jessica Hill, who was a competitive swimmer, she was super helpful in working on my technique with me.
I spent the whole morning being nervous about it, but when I got to the pool my nerves disappeared and I just thought about the individual tasks at hand like stretching and warming up. In my final breathe-up I just kept telling myself ‘one length at a time.
I’m the most unlikely athlete in my family, and did not grow up participating in any sports,” Shell chuckled. “My fascination of being in the water and freediving has evolved over the last five years and taken my parents and brother by surprise! I’m super psyched about reaching this goal and will be looking to achieve more personal goals in depth. If the records come it’s a pretty incredible feeling!”
Dynamic No Fins is performed by swimming without fins in a pool with the athlete holding their breath swimming as far as they can. Distance is measured with the use of a metered tape measure. The pool must be at least twenty-five yards long for the performance to be valid. Other disciplines include tests in depth and time.
US Freediving is a non-profit association founded on a democratic representation of freediving within the United States and internationally. Founded in 2003, US Freediving brought together a diverse group of 21 founding members, all interested in the development and growth of freediving. In just six months, this highly dedicated group was able to create an association recognized as the voice of freediving in the United States by the international community. The association has grown to over one hundred members with continued growth expected. http://www.usfreediving.org
