Croatian diver preparing to break Guinness World Record

Vitomir Maricic (Photo credit: Vladimir Soic)

Champion Croatian diver Vitomir Maricic is preparing for a brand new challenge – to break the Guinness World Record for the longest underwater walk with one breath. 

Maricic, who is from the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka and is the holder of a number of world diving records, will attempt to break the record in Opatija at Thalassotherapia Opatija.

“We will attempt to break the record on April 9, 2020 for the longest underwater walk, according to the Guinness Association. The diver, who is loaded with an arbitrary amount of lead, must walk underwater with one breath. Currently, the men’s record for the longest underwater walk is 79.94 m (262 ft 3.24 in) which was achieved by a Turkish representative in Turkey in 2015,” Maricic said.

Vitomir Maricic (Photo credit: Vladimir Soic)

The Croatian is preparing for the record attempt at the world-class facility in Opatija.

“Thalassotherapia Opatija has an ideal swimming pool for such an endeavour. We will also organise preparations there that will consist of a series of specific hypoxia and hypercapnic regimens and situational underwater walks, and during preparations, the team will monitor key body parameters related to blood, heart and muscles, and to improve them with the most modern training methods, but also to analyse the unusual conditions the diver’s body gets in.”

Vitomir preparing for the record-attempt (Photo credit: Vladimir Soic)

It will be interesting to monitor the parameters of blood, saturation, lactic acid, oxygen uptake before training, during training and immediately after the record, and possibly even during setting the record itself, which can be done thanks to the most advanced technology available at this institution where the record-breaking attempt will take place in April next year.  

Vitomir underwater (Photo credit: Vladimir Soic)

‘”I collaborated with Thalassotherapiain earlier years on some of the most challenging expeditions related to Guinness Diving Records, during which Lidija Lijic and I attacked records in dives under ice and dives at extreme altitudes in the highlands of the Himalayas. Considering that the cooperation has always been positive and that we have achieved the goals we have set, I believe that next year will be another opportunity for us to enter the Guinness Book of World Records. I feel proud and privileged that I was chosen as the ambassador of such an institution through which a great number of top athletes go through and I believe that together we can move the boundaries even further and even better, and from that process we can learn,” said Maricic, who is being watched carefully Dr. Viktor Persic.

(Photo credit: Vladimir Soic)

“For a top-level athlete, the economic stakes may be high, so medical decisions about his or her health ability to engage in such sporting activity are all the more difficult and the doctor’s responsibility even greater. It is quite certain that the social role of top sport is enormous today. In any case, caring for the health of such athletes is a great responsibility, requiring interdisciplinary, staffing and equipment with modern medical equipment. Vitomir Maricic is a top athlete, mainly oriented to underwater sports and is the world champion in the above mentioned field in five disciplines. Medical equipment and specially trained staff allow us to provide him with the best health care in all aspects of his needs. The primary objective is first and foremost to avoid adverse events on sports fields from sports injuries to the most tragic ones. Dosing and distribution of load intensity in the training process are important components of the process of building and timely achievement of optimal sports form. Next is the rehabilitation of sports injuries when necessary and sports nutrition,” said cardiologist Viktor Persic, otherwise known as a visionary in medicine who combines the impossible with the possible.

Vitomir with Viktor Persic (Photo credit: Vladimir Soic)

Thalassotherapia Opatija is a world-class health resort that few have heard of. The ideal geographical location Opatija, the combination of climate, environment, the beautiful Ucka mountain, and the scent of the sea, are all natural elements that are responsible for the development of health tourism. It is this, and the expertise there which will hopefully give Croatia and Victor a new world record come April 2020.