The spectators on the surface may have been holding their breath, but it was nothing compared with the record-breaking freediver beneath the waves.
William Trubridge, who was born in Britain but moved to New Zealand as a child, beat his own world record by a metre, holding his breath for four minutes and 24 seconds as he plunged 122m into Dean’s Blue Hole in the Bahamas.
After reaching the surface and gasping for breath, Mr Trubridge punched the air, but admitted that he feared he might black out during his ascent.
It took him two minutes and 15 seconds to reach the full depth, a distance deeper than the height of the Elizabeth Tower that houses Big Ben, but his ascent was hampered when he was unable to attach a Velcro tag, which he had to collect at the bottom-most point, securely to his leg.
Freedivers must descend into the depths without any equipment beyond a rope used to guide them.
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It is the 16th time that Mr Trubridge has set a world record. He has written of himself: “I have a relationship with the depths, they beckon me beyond my means, cold dark vacant pressure, forever night, endless dreams.”