A Croatian individual surpasses all limits by sustaining his breath underwater for almost thirty minutes, setting a seemingly unattainable record.
There are human feats that seem to touch the impossible and make us rethink how far the body and mind can go when they work together. One of them took place in Croatia, where a man pushed static apnea to an unprecedented level. What began as a path forced by an injury ended up becoming a historical mark that catapulted him to the top.
The seemingly unattainable record
In a portable pool installed in the banquet hall of the Hotel Bristol in Opatija, Croatia, 40-year-old Vitomir Maricic stopped time for 29 minutes and 3 seconds underwater in static apnea. With this feat, the Croatian not only broke a Guinness record but also left an indelible mark in the history of extreme sports. Surprisingly, apnea was not always his main passion. He played handball until a tendon injury, suffered while working in a circus in New Zealand, changed his fate. This setback led him to explore, where on June 14th he wrote a new page in the records of human endurance.
The mental and physical preparation behind the challenge
The achievement is not solely due to lung capacity. Maricic explained that this modality involves inhaling pure oxygen minutes before submerging, which multiplies the available reserve in the lungs up to five times. Still, reaching such a mark requires months of preparation and unwavering mental strength. As he described it, the secret lies in relaxing every muscle and regulating the abdomen to manage the oxygen. He described it as a challenge that is “very demanding” mentally, more than physically, as it is not about approaching a limit slowly but surpassing it at the decisive moment.
The key to his underwater endurance
Ten minutes before the immersion, Vitomir consumed pure oxygen. For him, the difference with regular air is not that great, except that the body must be trained to make the most of it. With consistency, discipline, and a clear method, he managed to prolong his endurance well beyond what was expected. In his own words, the essence of the record was “managing the situation, relaxing, and breathing at the right pace.” A seemingly simple formula but one that requires years of practice to become a reality. His 29-minute mark underwater is not only a sports record but also a symbol of how far the human being can go when deciding to go beyond what seems possible.
