For almost 30 minutes, Vitomir Maricic didn’t take a breath. Face down in a pool, surrounded by anxious onlookers, the Croatian freediver fought spasming pain to redefine what doctors thought was possible.

When he finally surfaced, he had smashed the previous Guinness World Record for the longest breath-hold underwater by nearly five minutes.

But even with the help of pure oxygen before the attempt, it had pushed him to the limit.

“Everything was difficult, just overwhelming,” Maricic, 40, told AFP, reflecting on the record-breaking day on June 14, 2025.

“When I dive, I completely disconnect from everything, as if I’m not even there.

“This time, I struggled mentally and halfway through I thought about quitting.”

Before the record dive, Maricic inhaled pure oxygen deeply for 10 minute

See Full Page