VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: World’s Greatest Diver Alexey Molchanov On Losing His Mom During A Dive, Why Freediving Is Safer Than Winter Sports

In an exclusive sit-down with uInterview, Alexey Molchanov, considered to be the world’s best diver, shared what he loves about diving and his new movie, Freediver.

The documentary Freediver follows Molchanov as he attempts to set five world records for the sport in under four months.

Molchanov started off by sharing a basic understanding of what freediving is. “Freediving is breath-hold diving,” he told uInterview founder Erik Meers. “It’s being able to dive with one breath – and it can be breath hold over time, it can be diving for depth like we do in the movie. Freediving is doing anything underwater while holding your breath. Freediving is adventures, exploration, interaction with sea animals, seeing some beautiful underwater locations. I would say freediving, in general, is exploration.”

Reflecting on how he knows when he’s gone too far underwater, Molchanov noted, “Equalization limit. Like, you just cannot equalize the pressure; it’s the pressure on the ears…if you don’t equalize the pressure on the ears, it hurts your ear hurts then that will be the limit…a lot of time when freedivers turn, and they’ll be going to dive deeper it’s because of that equalization did the work, time to come back.”

He added, “Sometimes it can be just a sensation that I have not relaxed enough the first part of the dive, the breath up or the way down was too tense, and I had some inner tension and if this tension is there, just my body — my mind – I want to dive deeper, but my body will tell me like it’s not possible, there’s too much tension.”

Molchanov shared the steps a person should take if they want to become a free diver. “We have so much oxygen reserves in our body, we can hold our breath for three minutes, four minutes, five minutes, without being like a competitive freediver,” he said. “Something we just have. So initially, it’s just about becoming more aware, understanding what’s going on in our body…and then after some time when you become an athlete – at this point, physique becomes more and more important. I must train, I must have enough strength to come back to the surface. It’s a lot of effort to come back at depth because of pressure — it’s negative buoyancy…to come back to the surface, you have to be strong.”

Asked what he hopes the audience will take away from the movie, Molchanov expressed, “I hope the audience will learn more about freediving in general and that it’s something that allows them to have a lot of amazing experiences. It requires education, and they must study what are the risks in freediving; it’s a sport where body and safety are important. It’s a very accessible sport – everyone can do this…but with education and seeing the risks in the movie, so people are aware they have to approach it carefully with education.”

Freediver is now available to stream on Prime Video or to buy or rent.