2008 and the year ahead!

Introduction

04.01.08 - Sara outlines her future goals.

© Adam Butler Big Splash Pictures

What a year!

Well the New Year is time for not only planning ahead but reflecting back on achievements, and I certainly have a lot to reflect on this time round! Three World Records and a Gold Medal at the Worlds in a sport I still considered myself to be a newcomer to!

The main impression I have is that I have had the most incredible fun learning how to freedive and the records have been a bonus along the way. Of course getting invited to BBC Sports Personality was a bit of a wake-up call – I'm actually considered one of the UK's top athletes now, which I don't think will ever sink in properly. Not all the TV appearances or newspaper articles have managed to make it feel real yet – so maybe this is just how it feels. Somehow you expect to feel different after such massive achievements, don't you?

I have to say I was a little disappointed by what appears to be the Sports Personality philosophy. All the top sports mentioned are those which have serious funding behind them. The media seems to go where the money is, making breaking into mainstream coverage and recognition even harder for the new sports such as freediving. It's a bit of a vicious circle really. I can sit and complain about it, or add 'make freediving a media-friendly, mainstream sport' to my list of New Year's Resolutions! I know which one it will be.

Talking of resolutions, what does 2008 hold for me? Apart from media and sponsorship, that is. Well, Dahab is not only famous for the Blue Hole, it is also famous for The Arch. This is an archway which stretches from the bottom of the Blue Hole at 95 metres up to around 55 metres, connecting the inside of the Blue Hole to the open sea. For years it has been the goal of many a scuba diver and in particular technical diver, to swim through it. And now, I hope to add my name to list of freedivers – just a handful in the world – to swim through it on just one breath. The numbers are quite daunting – a 55 metre descent, 35 metres through the tunnel of the arch, and then another 55 metres to the surface. If I make it, I will be the first woman in the world to do The Arch in Constant Weight – using only my monofin for propulsion! How exciting!

On the competitive side, everyone has been talking about the magical 100 metres too. Will I make it this year? Will I be the first woman to dive to triple figures using a monofin? Well, I guess, as with all my records, only time will tell. But I'd like to think 2008 will be the year.

Both of those deep dives will be amazing if I achieve them. But freediving isn't all about depth. For all those athletes living in Europe with little access to deep water, freediving is mainly pool-based, which is where I will be spending more of my time this year too. The Team World Championships will be held towards the end of the year, and the results are the aggregate total of three women over three disciplines for each country – Constant Weight (no problems there!), static (pure breath-hold – I hate it!) and dynamic (swimming lengths underwater).

This is where I really notice my body's adaptation to deep diving. My longest dive was almost four minutes long and I barely felt the urge to breathe, but put me in a pool, just one metre from the surface and tell me to swim lengths for the equivalent time or distance (180 metres) and I come up gasping at around half that! It's a pure psychological battle and one that I most definitely haven't got my head round yet.

My longest static is just over five minutes, which is OK, but pales against the top women – eight minutes is the current women's world record – and I find it painful and rather boring. But now I have the challenge of competition and the fact that I need to at least get my name on a competition finishing list for static and dynamic to be considered for the Worlds this year, I guess I'd better just put my wetsuit on, shut up and get on with it!

I feel so fortunate to have found this sport – imagine if I hadn't had the courage to listen to my instincts and stay in Dahab at the end of that week-long holiday three years ago. Who knows where I'd be or what I'd be doing now. But one thing is for sure, I would probably never, ever discover that I have the potential to be a world-class freediving lying dormant within me. Which is a lesson I intend to take with me into 2008 and through life. If you never try, you'll never know.