Rhein Main Cup 2008 - PB DNF 79 m!!!

Another one down... but for a long time this is the first competition with two successful dives.

I was taking away the pressure of the static dive by reducing both my announced performance and my own expectations. After all, I was there for the dynamic dive. So with an astonishing late and relatively short worm up of only three dives around 2min I got to 4:09 min and only stopped because I wanted to save myself for the DNF. I must say that Stigs method of training and diving really changed this discipline around for me. Daniel did a nice job coaching me. I cannot remember when I had a more relaxed competition dive.

Then came the big dive. I was maybe slightly more nervous which I was treating with the usual mambo-jumbo (yoga, music, meditation, autogenic training, visualization).
When I finally got in the water I was so relaxed I had to mess it up. For some strange reason I closed my eyes after pushing off. Now, that can be good for a nice and sleepy dive... but it was not. When I opened them again I realized I was off track. Not much but a bit. When I got to the wall I turned and pushed off and... closed my eyes again!?! Result: I was not pushing off straight but down and hit the ground at about 4m from the wall. Well, that woke me up a little but did not really help me.
At the next turn I tried so hard to make it a good one that I messed that up as well slipping and sliding with my feet along the wall and crouching my body together way too much... nothing like the nice and easy turns I usually do. When I finally did push off (with not so much of an effect) I thought, well that’s nice, you only have one more chance to make one good turn in this dive.
With my previous PB being 72m, I never really made a third turn before, though...
On the way down to it things were getting a little funny but I wanted to get there. The will to make that turn was stronger than the fear. I remembered my first 100m DYN dive. Also no perfect dive with a lot of will power and like then I focused on the line and sad to myself, it's now or never! Stick to that line and you'll get there.
And when I eventually did, I made the best turn of that dive, pushed off and made for the edge of the pool. There, I took off my mask before I started shaking like I have never done before. I was doing the samba, I had problems taking off my nose clip and the magic words "I am ok" sounded so strange that I apologized to the judges and said them again. After Pim gave me my white card he said he wanted that video to use for educational purpose... That says a lot!

But, it is official! New PB in diving on one breath without any fins: 79m!

I really hope my next competition dive is going to look a lot different and I can improve this. I am on track with my little plan so this one was maybe not the luckiest but it was one step on the way to get to 100m. Now that I have overcome lane 3 it is time to start thinking about lane 4. I love this sport!

PS: After the competition I was elected Vice President of AIDA Germany. I want everyone to address me like this from now on. Well... at least once.. for the fun of it... ;)

PPS: I have a video of the dive but I wont show. Not just because it really looks like I do not know what I am doing but also because I think the camera man was drunk and I dont want you guys to get sea sick.