It was a career-high for a record low.
Free-diver David Vencl set a Guinness World Record Tuesday after taking a 170-foot, or 52.1-meter, icy plunge below Switzerland’s Lake Sils — without a wetsuit.
The 40-year-old Czech diver took just one breath before diving through a hole drilled in the ice to retrieve a sticker placed 170.9 feet below the surface to prove his feat.
Vencl emerged from the same hole after 1 minute and 54 seconds, spat out some blood and opened a bottle of champagne.
His promoter Pavel Kalous said the swim took longer than expected.
“He kind of enjoyed it but he admits he was a little more nervous than usual and he had some problems with breathing,” Kalous said.
“There is nothing difficult for him to be in cold water … Lack of oxygen is something normal for him. But this was completely different because it’s really difficult to work with the pressure in your ears in cold water.
“If you combine all these three things: cold water, lack of oxygen and the problem with working with pressure, it’s something very unique.”
The water was between 33.8 and 39.2 degrees when Vencl took the plunge. Air temperatures hovered around 40 degrees.
Vencl later visited a hospital to confirm the record-breaking dive hadn’t posed any serious risk.
The Guinness World Record is the second for Vencl — he first made it into the book in 2021 after swimming the 265-foot length of an iced-over Czech lake with just one breath.
With Post wires
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