Swimming: Olavi Paananen dived under the ice 107 meters

Have hobbies And then there are hobbies. Jogging and gym are part of the first category. Diving under the ice is one another.

Espoo Olavi Paananen44, is an IT entrepreneur and the father of two primary school children. In addition, he is the Finnish record holder of free diving and the world recorder officially officially officially also officially.

The Finnish record for the longitudinal diving with two flippers was born in the World Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania last year, when Paananen dived as much as 213 meters.

He was fourth in the overall points, but in the autumn he began to preparation for something completely new: to dive under the ice.

Why? To get its name in the Guinness Book of Records.

“However, the world record is quite a dramatic thing. I believed it could be achieved if you could just practice the cold, ”says Paananen.

“I started by sitting in the cold pools in the swimming pools for the longest 10-15 minutes. The duration was not so much, but I took my breath in cold water for 2-3 minutes at a time. ”

The next step was diving in the hole. Paananen put a rubber band on the waist and dived into the water in Haukilahti or Westend.

“There was no need to dive for the journey. My friend Salla Hakanpää There was a signaling device I knew about the sound, ”how long I had dived.

Paananen points out that diving, especially under ice, is very dangerous and should not be done without sufficient security arrangements and rescue plans.

Paananen says that diving in the pool helped to assess the duration of a record-breaking company under ice quite well. Still, he wanted to experience what was coming, and there was only one way for it: he had to dive under the ice.

First The dive was 75 meters long. The other was supposed to be as much as 110 meters, as Paananen had calculated that it could be a bit of a bargain to get a record. However, not everything went as planned.

“I ran into the edge of the 107 -meter hole when I got up too much. The consciousness did not go completely, but almost. It was the first rescue situation in my life. The week was quite difficult to collect the cassette. ”

“I noticed that cold water is quite different from the pool. It goes into a deeper fog and the decision -making ability is quite limited. ”

Seven months of training culminated on 8 March in Siikajärvi, Laukaa. The official supervisor of the Guinness Book of Guinness, numerous security divers and other security staff, was present.

The journey was shortened to 107 meters, which was 75 cents more than Switzerland Peter Colatin We from last year.

Paananen says that the situation was challenging in many ways. Guinness’s record attempt included a presentation for the video, after which we had to go to the performance. Stress raises oxygen consumption. Cold raises heart rate and releases adrenaline in the body, while the diving response lowers the heart rate.

“It’s a pretty loading autonomous conflict for the body.”

The lungs are full of oxygen and under ice.

For safety reasons The openings were at the beginning every 20 meters, after 60 meters every tenth meter. There was a safety diver alongside the whole trip, and Paananen was closed in the safety rope.

“I calculated hand pulls. Its main meaning was to rule out the thoughts from everything else. All the time it started to feel worse. ”

“I visualize what happens when I have made a record. I already went there to the feeling. It’s my most powerful tool. I visualize the future that is sunny. ”

After the clock had been 2 minutes and 45 seconds, the ice and the darkness ended. And not too early for a moment.

“If I had dived in the pool, I would have risen a couple of meters earlier. I felt that I had to get up now, but there was still ice. ”

The video of the performance shows how a breathable and shaking Paananen relies on the edge of the opening and seems to be in order.