Hanli Prinsloo

Hanli Prinsloo is a South African freediver, speaker, writer and ocean conservationist, born on a farm near Cullinan and raised outside Pretoria. She studied dramatic studies in Pretoria and performing arts and cultural project management in Gothenburg, Sweden, where she worked as an actress and was introduced to freediving by Sebastian Näslund. She broke her first South African freediving record in 2003, represented South Africa at the 2006 world championships in Dahab, Egypt, and in 2008 broke four national records and won the Nordic Deep competition. By 2010 she had broken eleven South African records and was the first South African to hold all six competitive freediving records at once. She founded the I Am Water trust, an ocean conservation organisation, coached top athletes in mental strength, and was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader in 2014.