CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor 2026

The second event of the 2026 freediving competition season—the CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor—takes place in Novi Sad, Serbia.

Sports Columnist: Asya Kleshchevnikova
Editor: Kristina Zvaritch

1. Day 1 (June 11): DNF
2. Day 2 (June 12): DYN-BF
3. Day 3 (June 13): STA
4. Day 4 (June 14): DYN

Day 1 (June 11): DNF

June 11th was the first competition day of the CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor 2026, taking place on June 11–14 in Novi Sad, Serbia. Many athletes came here directly from Budapest, Hungary, right after the World Apnea (AIDA) 2026 Pool World Championships. But several strong national teams that weren't represented in Hungary have now joined, including athletes from Italy, Croatia, and Spain.

However, the diving conditions and online broadcast are much more modest than they have been during the previous Championship. The competition venue, SC Futog, features the following conditions:

• Depth: 2m (7ft)
• Length: 50m (164ft)
• Number of lanes: 10
• Water temperature: 26°C (79°F)

The men and women are diving separately, with two athletes in each heat. Within each gender group, performances are arranged according to their official personal best (PB) results. This means that the strongest men and women compete at the end, allowing viewers front-row seats to the rivalry of the top equal competitors swimming together in the final heats.

In short:

• 120 athletes participated
• Realized distances ranged from 65.5–244m (215ft–801ft)
• 15 red cards were issued
• 1 yellow card was given
• 1 new CMAS World Record (pending)
• 2 new CMAS Continental Records (pending)

Winners among the men

Despite the presence of most of the world's leading athletes in the discipline—Dynamic without Fins (DNF)—the day was relatively drama-free, yet still interesting to watch. Predictably, the current absolute World Record holder Mateusz Malina (POL), with a performance of 252m (827ft), reached a week ago during the World Apnea (AIDA) 2026 Pool World Championships, won the gold today by swimming 244m (801ft). This result, which is 8m (26ft) less than Mateusz's PB, became a new CMAS World Record.

Mateusz swam in the last heat with his teammate Piotr Kubiak (POL; PB 225.5m / 740ft). Piotr also made a strong claim for a medal, surfacing at 220m (722ft), but dipped his airways in the water during the surface protocol and was consequently disqualified.

Rolando Salgado (CUB; PB 218m / 715ft) encountered much misfortune during the previous World Apnea World Championship. There, he made sizeable performances in DNF and DYNB, but made mistakes in the surface protocol and lost his chance at medals. It seems he has finally caught some luck: Rolando performed a strong 228m (748ft) dive, improved his PB by 10m (33ft) in one leap, and set a new CMAS Continental Record for North America. Congratulations, Vice-Champion!

Guillaume Bourdila (FRA; PB 236m / 774ft), who swam in the same heat as Rolando, covered a distance of 213m (699ft) and won the bronze. An interesting fact: at last week’s World Apnea Pool Championship, Guillaume swam 11m (36ft) less, but still earned himself the silver medal.

A bit of drama was sprinkled in by Fedor Kravchuk (INT), a debutant at this Championship. He swam 200m (656ft) confidently, but unfortunately collided directly with the pool wall, hitting his head. The athlete tried to turn and continue his dive, but lost consciousness.

To sum up, the winners among men:

Mateusz Malina (POL) - 244m (801ft) - Gold and a new CMAS World Record
Rolando Salgado (CUB) - 228m (748ft) - Silver and a new CMAS Continental Record for North America
Guillaume Bourdila (FRA) - 213m (699ft) - Bronze

Winners among the women

The competition among women was much hotter—the top three places were divided by only 0.5m (2ft)! Gold went to the current absolute World Record holder in DNF—Julia Kozerska (POL; PB 222.5m / 730ft)—with a result of 211m (692ft). Mirela Kardašević (HRV; PB 209m / 686ft), who swam in the same heat, landed second with 210.5m (691ft). And just 0.5m behind Mirela, Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL; 210m / 689ft) surfaced. It was incredible to watch the three medalists diving together!

It’s also important to mention Livia Bregonzio (ITA; PB 179.5m / 589ft), who is 53 years old and can choose to compete in the Masters 1 category (53–59 years old). Livia not only competed with senior athletes, she also came very close to the podium. Today, she placed 5th in the discipline ranking with a result of 172.5m (566ft), which is only 2m (7ft) less than Ke Tang (CHN), who placed 4th.

To sum up, the winners among women are as follows:

Julia Kozerska (POL) - 211m (692ft) - Gold
Mirela Kardašević (HRV) - 210.5m (691ft) - Silver
Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL) - 210m (689ft) - Bronze

June 12th is the second competition day, where athletes will compete in Dynamic with Bifins (DYN-BF). The broadcast is available to watch on CMAS TV, with the first performance starting at 9 am (GMT+2).

Day 2 (June 12): DYN-BF

June 12th was the second competition day at the CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor 2026, where athletes competed in Dynamic with Bifins (DYN-BF). The day was remarkable with many outstanding achievements, however, there were no unexpected twists—the strongest won, and the rest followed. Even the red cards were at a minimum.

In short:

• 138 athletes participated
• Realized distances ranged from 76.5–300m (251–984ft)
• 6 red cards were issued
• 0 yellow cards were given
• 1 new absolute World Record (pending)
• 5 new CMAS Continental Records (pending)

Winners among the women

Similar to yesterday, the athletes' performances were scheduled according to their official personal bests (PBs) from the previous competition season, from the shortest to the longest distance. The fight for medals unfolded in the last several heats without any initial surprises. Among the women, there was just one athlete who received a red card—Mariia Amosova (INT)—who swam 204.5m (671ft) and had a surface blackout. However, her result didn't influence the medals distribution.

At the end of the day, the four athletes with the biggest PBs took to the pool lanes. Last year's DYNB Champion, Mirela Kardašević (HRV), not only won the race again with a 10.5m (34ft) gap, but also set a new absolute DYN World Record with an incredible 278.5m (914ft). Mirela's new record is 14.86m (49ft) greater than the previous absolute world record in this discipline of 263.64m (865ft), set by Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL) two years ago at the Kuwait CMAS World Freediving Indoor Championship 2023.

Magdalena herself also outswam her previous PB and finished at 268m (879ft). Alas, it wasn't enough for the gold and, similarly to last year, she became Vice-Champion.

María Córdova (ECU) showed 250m (820ft) and snatched the bronze, outswimming Livia Bregonzio (ITA), who also placed 4th in DNF yesterday, by just 2m (7ft). Maria's result became a new CMAS Continental Record for South America.

To sum up, the winners among the women:

Mirela Kardašević (HRV) - 278.5m (914ft) - Gold and new absolute World Record
Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL) - 268m (879ft) - Silver
María Córdova (ECU) - 250m (820ft) - Bronze and new CMAS Continental Record for South America

Winners among the men

The most surprising performance among the men belonged to Mateusz Malina (POL), and for once, it wasn't a new world record. Holding the current absolute DYNB World Record of 300m (984ft) has probably tired Mateusz out after these last glorious weeks, which were marked with several records and medals. He finished his dive at a distance of 230m (755ft), which ranked 16th in the discipline.

Goran Colak (HRV; PB 292.15m / 958ft), who was 4th in the world ranking by the discipline in the morning, swam in the 3rd-to-last heat and confidently finished at the 300m mark. His performance was equal to the absolute world record!

Rolando Salgado (CUB) swam in the next heat and showed a beautiful result of 297m (974ft). His surface protocol once again left us at the edge of our seats... Fortunately, the judges didn't notice anything suspicious and showed Rolando a white card. This is his second silver medal at the Championship and a new CMAS Continental Record for North America!

Swimming in the last heat, Guillaume Bourdila (FRA)—the current AIDA World Record holder in DYNB with 298m (978ft)—finished at 291.5m (956ft) and took the bronze.

To sum up, the winners among the men are as follows:

Goran Colak (HRV) - 300m (984ft) - Gold
Rolando Salgado (CUB) - 297m (974ft) - Silver and new CMAS Continental Record for North America
Guillaume Bourdila (FRA) - 291.5m (956ft) - Bronze

Congratulations to all the athletes!

This might also be the first time that the three strongest STA athletes—Florian Dagoury (FRA; PB 10:41), Branko Petrovic (SRB; PB 10:23), and Goran Colak (HRV; PB 9:17)—are performing together at one event. Let's hope that at least one of them will be able to beat the STA time of Heike Schwerdtner (DEU), which was longer than the best men's performance during the World Apnea (AIDA) 2026 Pool World Championships a week ago.

The broadcast is available to watch on CMAS TV, with the first performance starting at 9 am (GMT+2).

Day 3 (June 13): STA

On June 13th, athletes competed in Static Apnea (STA) at the CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor 2026. Some might not consider this discipline spectacular, but rather emotionally intense—for some athletes who compete only in STA, they would even say it’s dramatic. We’ll start with a spoiler: Once again, Heike Schwerdtner (DEU) became the winner among both men and women, with the longest performance among all the competitors. It's the second championship this month in which Heike held her breath for the longest among both genders.

But let’s do the story justice by starting from the beginning.

In short:

• 105 athletes participated
• Realized breathhold time from 1:14–9:39
• 9 red cards were issued
• 0 yellow cards were given
• 1 new absolute World Record (pending)
• 1 new CMAS Continental Record (pending)

Winners among the men

This time, the men performed first, with 6 athletes per heat. Since the performances were arranged according to personal bests (PBs), from the shortest to the longest, the fate of medals was decided in the final heat. Goran Colak (HRV) and Aleksandr Maksimov (INT) didn't manage to reach the 9:00 threshold, finishing at 8:26 and 8:55, respectively.

At the same time, the broadcast showed that Damien Bisch (FRA) finished with a result of 9:10. For a while, we thought that he had become Vice-Champion. But later, Damien's time was corrected to 8:43, eventually placing him 5th in the discipline ranking.

Florian Dagoury (FRA) became the first man in the heat to hold his breath for longer than 9 minutes, finishing his attempt with 9:04. Damian Watracz (POL) held out even longer and emerged with a very strong result of 9:36.

Unlike the broadcast for the dynamic disciplines, STA's broadcast was far from perfect, and we didn't see the most dramatic moment of the day—the performance of Branko Petrovic (SRB). At 9:41, which would already have claimed victory, Branko failed to react to a safety check; hence, he was taken out of the water. It became a disqualification, followed by an emotional disagreement from Branko.

To sum up, the winners among the men are:

Damian Watracz (POL) - 9:36 - Gold
Florian Dagoury (FRA) - 9:04 - Silver
Aleksandr Maksimov (INT) - 8:55 - Bronze

Winners among the women

The winners among the women were also defined in the last heat, but without any unexpected twists—except maybe for the fact that Julia Kozerska (POL), one of the main contenders for medals and DNF winner two days earlier, finished her attempt at 3:34 and didn't show the surface protocol. Unfortunately, we couldn't really see what happened in the broadcast. Perhaps Julia was just saving her energy for the last competition day in DYN.

The bronze went to María Verónica Córdova (ECU) with a time of 7:24, setting a new CMAS Continental Record for South America. Marta Bignazzi (ITA) outperformed Maria by just 1 second and won the silver with 7:25!

And, as we mentioned earlier, Heike Schwerdtner (DEU) became the Champion with 9:39, showing to the second exactly the same number as her performance a week ago during the World Apnea (AIDA) 2026 Pool World Championships. This result has also become a new CMAS World Record in STA.

To sum up, the winners among the women are:

Heike Schwerdtner (DEU) - 9:39 - Gold and new CMAS World Record
Marta Bignazzi (ITA) - 7:25 - Silver
María Verónica Córdova (ECU) - 7:24 - Bronze and new CMAS Continental Record for South America

June 14th is the final competition day of the CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor 2026. Athletes will showcase their skills in Dynamic with Fins (DYN). The broadcast is available to watch on CMAS TV, with the first performance starting at 9 am (GMT+2).

Day 4 (June 14): DYN

June 14th was the last competition day of the CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor 2026. The athletes competed in Dynamic with Fins (DYN)—the longest and most spectacular discipline of all. This time, there were no new world records, yet fans still witnessed several remarkable results.

In short:

• 148 athletes participated
• Realized distances ranged from 50–322.5m (164–1,058ft)
• 10 red cards were issued
• 2 new CMAS Continental Records (pending)

Winners among the women

The women performed first and, similarly to the last competition days, the winners were determined in the final heats. In the penultimate heat, Livia Bregonzio (ITA; PB 263m / 863ft) and Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL; PB 281m / 922ft) performed. Livia finished her attempt first with 250m (820ft), while Magda improved her PB by 1m (3ft), diving 282m (925ft).

Then, in the last heat, Mirela Kardašević (HRV) and Julia Kozerska (POL) swam alongside each other. Mirela swiftly and beautifully finished her dive of 288m (945ft), just 2m (7ft) shorter than the current absolute World Record set by Zsófia Törőcsik (HUN) during the CMAS World Games 2025.

Julia's dive of 281m (922ft) lasted much longer than Mirela's, and probably also longer than anyone else's dive that day—the dive time was more than 5 minutes! And it was apparently a complicated dive for the athlete. In the last 50m (164ft), Julia was propelling herself with her hands. Upon surfacing, the judges initially gave her a yellow card, indicating they needed time to review the video of her dive and surface protocol. Fortunately, after the revision, the card turned white!

So, to sum up, the winners among the women are as follows:

Mirela Kardašević (HRV) - 288m (945ft) - Gold
Magdalena Solich-Talanda (POL) - 282m (925ft) - Silver
Julia Kozerska (POL) - 281m (922ft) - Bronze

Livia Bregonzio placed 4th. Remarkably, she was in the top 5 of the Championship in all the dynamic disciplines—DYNB, DNF, and DYN—competing in the senior category as a 53-year-old.

Winners among the men

The male competition was a bit less predictable, and hence, more interesting. Several strong athletes finished their dives far from their PBs. Goran Colak (HRV; PB 299m / 981ft) and Rolando Salgado (CUB; PB 318m / 1,043ft) swam 200m (656ft) and 231.5m (760ft), respectively. Aleksandr Maksimov (INT; PB 253m / 830ft) swam with bifins, and very slowly, seemingly competing with Julia for the longest dive time. Ming (William Joy) Jin (CHN; PB 311m / 1,020ft) tried his best, but finished his dive at the 277.5m (910ft) mark, placing 7th.

The athlete who truly did his best was Romain Hinfray (FRA; PB 256m / 840ft). He surfaced after touching the wall at 300m (984ft), reaching an official result of 299m (981ft). Romain was overjoyed and didn’t seem to believe his result!

Romain's achievement was only outperformed in the final heat. The unstoppable Mateusz Malina (POL; PB 326.5m / 1,071ft)—current absolute World Record holder in all dynamic disciplines—covered a distance of 322.5m (1,058ft). Guillaume Bourdila (FRA; PB 306m / 1,003ft), who swam in the same heat, reached 292.5m (960ft).

To sum up, the winners among the men are as follows:

Mateusz Malina (POL) - 322.5m (1,058ft) - Gold
Romain Hinfray (FRA) - 299m (981ft) - Silver
Guillaume Bourdila (FRA) - 292.5m (960ft) - Bronze

And with that, the CMAS World Championship Freediving Indoor 2026 is officially over! Congratulations to all the athletes on their new personal bests, national, continental, and world records! We hope every sacrifice you made on the way to improve your results has paid off these days, and that you enjoyed your performances, the award ceremony, and of course, the after-party. We can't wait to see you at the next pool World Championship, and some of you, even sooner at the depth World Championship!