Herbert Nitsch (born 20 April 1970) is an Austrian freediver, the current freediving world record champion, and "the deepest man on earth" having dived to a depth of 253.2 m. Nitsch has held 34 world records in all of the eight freediving disciplines recognised by AIDA International and one in the traditional Greek discipline of Skandalopetra.

Competitive freediving

Nitsch has held the world record in at least six AIDA-recognised events: Variable Weight, Constant Weight, Static Apnea, Dynamic Apnea, Free Immersion and Dynamic apnea without fins.

Dynamic Apnea

Nitsch's Dynamic Apnea record of 183 m set in 2002, was bested by 40 m by Tom Sietas. Women's champion, Natalia Molchanova of Russia, has also swum further than 200 m. Sietas also holds the Dynamic apnea without fins record at 183 m, beating Nitsch's 2001 distance of 134 m by almost 50 m.

Constant Weight

Nitsch also held the world record in the Constant Weight event, which is considered by many to be the classic free-diving discipline: the diver descends next to a line, not using the line and unaided by a sled, and must maintain a constant weight, meaning that no weight can be dropped for the return to the surface. Nitsch exceeded the then world record depth in 2006 when he dived to a depth of 110 m, but failure to complete the strict surfacing protocols within the allotted time meant that the dive was disqualified. In Hurghada, Egypt, in December 2006, he set a Constant Weight World Record dive of 111 m, exceeding Guillaume Néry's previous record by 2 m. Later in 2007, he also set the Constant Weight (No Fins) record during The Triple Depth in Dahab, Egypt, and went on to push the Constant record to 112 m during the World Championships in Sharm. Herbert also won the AIDA Individual World Championships. His record of 66 m for Constant Weight without fins, set in 2004, was beaten by 14 m in 2005 by Czech free-diver, Martin Štěpánek, who was also the holder of the Free Immersion record of 106 m; Nitsch recorded 100 m in September 2003, but his record was bettered by a dive of 101 m by Carlos Coste of Venezuela in October the same year and then twice improved upon by Štěpánek.

Static Apnea

Nitsch set a time of 9 mins 4 secs for the world Static Apnea record in December 2006 when he held his breath underwater in a swimming pool in Hurgada, a time that was beaten by 4 secs in 2007 by Tom Sietas of Germany.

Free immersion and variable weight

During the 2009 Vertical Blue competition at the Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas in April, Nitsch set the Free Immersion world record at 109 m. He also established two subsequent world record dives in Constant Weight at 114 m, and 120 m on the last day of the competition, beating by 6 m the previous record that he had set a few days earlier. He used his arms only in the last 40 m of this ascent, with a total dive time of 3:58. Later that same year in December at the Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas, Nitsch broke three world records: Variable Weight at 142 m; Free Immersion at 112 m; and Constant Weight at 123 m.

Retirement

During his last competition before retiring from competitive freediving, in April 2010 at Vertical Blue again at the Dean's Blue Hole in Bahamas, Nitsch set another three world records. He landed two subsequent ones in Free Immersion at 114 m and 120 m, and a world record in Constant Weight at 124 m. Nitsch focused solely on the "No Limit" events after this, in which the record attempts fall outside of regulated competition.

'No Limits' diving

Nitsch holds the No-Limits record and the title of "Deepest man on Earth" in which the diver can make use of a weighted sled to descend as far as possible and uses an air-filled balloon or other buoyancy device to return to the surface.

World record

Nitsch set the world record in Spetses, Greece in June 2007 when he descended to 214 m, beating his own record of 183 m set the previous year.

Later attempt and serious injury

In 2012, Nitsch returned to the "No Limit" category in the waters off Santorini, Greece, with a project labeled "Extreme 800", aiming for a depth of 244 m. Following extensive training using an innovative torpedo-type sled design of very high descend and ascend speed, on 6 June 2012, Nitsch managed to reach a depth of 253.2 m, a Guinness World Record, but ten minutes after the dive he began experiencing serious symptoms of decompression sickness. Nitsch temporarily fell asleep due to nitrogen narcosis during the last part of the ascent (as opposed to through oxygen starvation), and woke up prior to reaching the surface. Following a planned post-dive decompression, breathing medical oxygen at a shallow depth, he signaled to his support team that he felt much weaker than normal and his condition was assessed as critical enough to require an air transfer to a pre-alerted decompression chamber in Athens, where he received treatment. He incurred multiple brain strokes due to severe decompression sickness. He subsequently received extensive decompression treatment in Germany. The initial prognosis was that he would need home care and be unable to walk without assistance. However, through extensive rehabilitation, he made a strong recovery. He still has balance and coordination problems on land, but does not experience them underwater. He continues to deep free-dive.

Other career

Nitsch also worked part-time as a pilot for Tyrolean Airways.

Awards and honors

The asteroid 295471 Herbertnitsch, discovered by Italian amateur astronomer Vincenzo Casulli in 2008, was named in his honor. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center on 27 August 2019 (M.P.C. 115895).

Official records

Nitsch remains to date the only person that achieved world records across all of AIDA's eight freediving disciplines, in addition to the one he had set in the Greek discipline of Skandalopetra. 72m = AIDA Lake Record; after 2001-12-31 AIDA International no longer separated the records achieved in a lake from those in the sea.

Personal bests

Filmography