Kathryn Nevatt - freediver

It's been a hectic couple of weeks commencing with the wonderful Wellington winter champs marking it's 20th anniversary since I organised the first one back in 2006! It's always a great get together with old friends and a bit confronting about how long several of us have been doing this now! I didn't achieve what I set out to do, but respectable results of 153m dynamic no fins, 7:33 static followed up with 176m dynamic bi-fins shortly after. Thanks to Amy for coaching and great to see her progressing with a couple of very respectable PBs. Also really fab to see so many new divers having a go and new people having a go at organising.

This was followed up with a quick trip to see my folks and then a work trip to Auckland, with photographer Simon Devitt shooting some recent work, a little swim modeling on top of the world resulting in mild hypothermia, last minute musical ticket and a book launch; Cape to Bluff which features one of my jobs "farm house" by Anna-Marie Chin Architects.

Guinness world record holders!

Portraits by EYXL.com.au

The Queenstown Freediving Club, New Zealand is running a Club Induction next week on Tuesday evening to welcome new members to the club.

More info in the event:
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So I know most people published their year summary posts about a month ago, but it's taken me a while to settle and process things. I always aim pretty high which makes satisfaction hard to achieve, and it's a slippery slide in just one direction when you've spent many years at the very top of your game. Anyway, on paper I had a pretty successful year and still aiming for more for the year to come. Here's my summary:

4th overall woman at the AIDA freediving pool world champs in Wakayama, Japan.

Static apnea - new national record at 7:49, 4th in the 2025 world rankings and 10th in the all-time world rankings, 5th place at the world champs (with a lesser time), and wild card place for this year's world champs.

Dynamic bifins - new continental record and 2x national records, 201m.

Dynamic (monofin) - new continental and national record, 211m.

5th in the overall pool (combined total of 4x pool events) world rankings for 2025.

NZ National Champion

I took part in my first CMAS competition (Australian Nationals), and while I can't claim NZ records as we don't have a national to verify them I set 4x NZ competition bests. I was also the overall winner of this competition.

I took part in a Guinness world record attempt, 24-hour underwater relay in Sydney in November where we swam fast laps, no-fins underwater. We reached 98km. This is still in the verification process with Guinness, but it felt like quite an achievement for me (I'm a bit slow and really like sleep), plus it was fun to be part of a bigger team in what is usually a very individual/personal sport.

Couldn't have done it without my dive buddies at the Queenstown Freediving Club, New Zealand who showed up so I could train. Thanks team! Also thanks to everyone who supported with donations or by joining in on a course.

Firecrest Systems
Seaquel Wetsuits
QLDC Sport & Recreation
AIDA International


Photo by EYXL.com.au

Mountain Scene this week:

Check out these beautiful diptych portraits of the team, by Eric Yip, taken at the end of our 24-hour underwater relay. They really capture the fatigue, the pain of the gear imprinted on the face and the chlorine burns! The sound track would be a dry hacking cough mixed together with a few tears of joy!

EYXL.com.au

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