Kateryna Sadurska of Ukraine dived to 90 metres on a single breath without fins in Soufrière, Dominica, on 11 November 2026. She became the first woman in history to reach that depth at the AIDA Blue Element competition. The mark is her tenth world record in the constant weight no fins discipline in four years.
The road through a blackout
She swam down the guide rope using only her body, no fins and no additional equipment. In July, Sadurska had attempted an 89‑metre record but blacked out just before the surface. She had entered that attempt injured and on antibiotics, the first blackout in her ten‑year career.
The disqualification forced her to reconsider her preparation. Her 90 m beat the previous women's benchmark of 79 m by a full 11 metres.
Ten records, one first
She improved it through 78 m, 80 m, 82 m, and 84 m before this dive. Only six men in the sport's history have reached 90 metres or deeper.
She is an 11‑time world champion across freediving disciplines and a former Olympian, having represented Ukraine at the 2016 Rio Games. She also won a silver medal at the 2021 freediving world championship and gold the following year. The full‑scale war made deep‑water training at home impossible, so she has spent years travelling between countries, often relocating every month.
"Today I woke up and became the first woman in history to dive to 90 meters without fins," Sadurska wrote on social media afterwards. She dedicated the record to Ukraine's defenders.
The dive off Dominica puts her alone at a depth the sport's women had never touched before.
