French free-diving champion Loic Leferme has died in a training accident off the south of France.
French free-diving champion Loic Leferme has died in a training accident off the south of France. The 36-year-old former free-diving world record holder died when his rapid ascent system snagged, according to latest reports.
Leferme was in training off Villefranche-sur-Mer near Nice to break the current world record of 183m in the 'no limits' free-diving category, currently held by Austrian Herbert Nitsch. Under the sport's rules, free-divers in the 'no limits' category descend to great depths using a weighted sled, then use balloon systems to return to the surface at speed.
Free-diving instructor Cedric Palerm told French news agency AFP that Leferme's rope got caught on something underwater and failed to return him to the surface following a 171m dive.
'He'd gone beyond the black-out stage,' Palerm told AFP. 'We gave him heart massage, got out the oxygen.'
According to Palerm, paramedics arrived within ten minutes, but were unable to resuscitate him. Born in 1970, Lerferme founded the International Centre for Free-diving in 1999.
He is survived by wife, Valerie, and two children.
Depressing to hear of yet another death in what is becoming a long list in this sport. However our disapproval of record attempts will mean nothing to those who choose to participate. Hoprfully Tanya Streeter has put record attempts behind her now that she has carved out a career as a television presenter, but it wouldn't have happened if she had never made her name as the worlds deepest freediver.
Free-diver descends to 214m Austrian free-diver Herbert Nitsch has smashed the AIDA world record by descending to a depth of 214m, 29m deeper than his previous record.
Holding on for a hero Diving needs its ambassadors, but when Jacques Cousteau died in 1996 the sport lost its greatest icon.
Talking About My Generation The intense rivalry that characterised 20th-century free-diving has given way to a new period of competitive professionalism characterised by the charismatic record-breaking free-diver Loïc Leferme. Simon Rogerson reports
