Herbert Nitsch

Herbert Nitsch has been ranked the leading free diver for the last 7 years, establishing 22 free diving World Records. He has the most World Records ever held by a free diver and has won almost all the competitions. Winning the last World Championship in November 2007 by a clear lead, he became the existing World Champion. He has held his breath over 9 minutes and has depth records, descending to 112 meters self-propelled and 214 meters (700 feet) with a sled.

Herbert Nitsch was born April 20, 1970 in Vienna, Austria. In high school he elected to attend the American International School in Vienna rather than the more universally attended Austrian Theresianum. He graduated with the Austrian Matura and the American Diploma. Upon graduation, he fulfilled his mandatory Austrian Army tenure. While in the Army, he started his flying career and shortly after leaving the Army began working for the General Aviation Center at the Vienna International Airport. It was here that he gained his first flight experience, flying sightseeing and business jet charters. In 1995, he began flying for Tyrolean Airways which became an air wing of Austrian Airlines.

Herbert's passion for free diving was a result of an unbelievable coincidence in 1999. As the son of a passionate sailor, Herbert had a lot of water contact from an early age and learned many water sports. In 1999, during a scuba diving boat safari, Herbert spent his week long vacation snorkeling instead of scuba diving, as his diving equipment had been lost in transit. Toward the end of this week, it was apparent that he had a special talent for this sport, as he discovered he could snorkel down to the skin divers, who, in turn, challenged him to try for his maximum dive. Coincidentally, about this same time, he read an article in a newspaper about someone's National Record in free diving, and, not only did he learn that what he was doing was free diving, he realized he was only 2 meters short of a National Record.

Friends pushed Herbert to buy some fins and win the Austrian Championship, which led him toward the international free diving world. Less than 2 years later he achieved his first World Record. Coming from a land-locked country, free diving was still only a hobby to him. He surprised the free diving professionals by walking in after the start of a competition and leaving before receiving his awards. Since he had no one to learn from, he had to develop his own techniques, normally different from the common styles. Competitor's trainers often pointed their fingers at him, using him as an example of how not to free dive and placing high bets against him.

Working full time as a Captain, there is not much time left for his passion in free diving, so he has had to invent some rather unusual training routines. In 2005, he received a part-time contract with the airlines, giving him the opportunity to find out more about the miracle of our body, and he is now sharing his findings of mind and body control in different forums.