For the third consecutive year i am in Riva del Garda for the Italian outdoor freediving championships. It is the fifth year in a row that these championships, organized by Fipsas and "led" by Michele Geraci, have taken place at the lake. And although diving in a lake in a country like Italy, with over 7500 kilometers of coastline, might seem unattractive, the number of participants continues to grow with each edition. If in the first year there were 50 athletes, this year we will exceed 80 participants, with over 130 starts distributed over three competition fields, making it the national championship with the most participants in the world.

From an organizational point of view, diving in the Mediterranean in September can bring many uncertainties between currents and rough seas. The lake, however, offers greater security: the water will always be cold and dark! But note the positive notes: the landscape is breathtaking and the organization of the Riva del Garda Diving Group, led by Graziano Marchi, is impeccable.

Despite the difficult conditions of the lake, such as cold water and darkness, the average depths exceed those announced at the sea, with an average between 60 and 70 meters.

On a personal level, I arrived in Riva del Garda a week ago, initially finding water at 15 degrees on the surface, which had dropped by 10 degrees from the previous days due to the rains, a stark contrast compared to the warm waters of Dominica, where I was in the previous training phase.

One week after the start of the championship, the temperature on the surface has risen to 23 degrees, while the temperature at the clay pigeon still remains at 7 degrees. Also this year high level athletes such as Vincenzo Ferri (world record in monofin and bifins), Chiara Obino (who last year broke my world record in monofin), Paola Zanaga, Stefano Byloos, Pietro Angiolini and Anna Karina (who broke my fin world record last year). This year I will try to get back a world record and training is going very well. Among the high-level new entries, there will be Davide Carrera, who aims to set world records in both disciplines, thus competing for the titles with Ferri.

Photo by Federico Buzzoni