Leonardo D'Imporzano

Leonardo D'Imporzano, born on 19 March 1982 in La Spezia, is an Italian freediver, AIDA International judge, underwater journalist, researcher and conservationist. A pioneer of freediving under ice, he achieved the best performance recorded in dynamic without fins under ice at Smeraldo Lake in Val di Non, Trento, on 24 February 2008, with 43 metres. With his team he has carried out hyperbaric and diving medicine research, including the first electrocardiogram taken under ice and the deepest electrocardiogram. He was the first journalist embedded with the Italian Navy diver course for its full 44 weeks, which led to his book Palombiro, and he has written other books on diving and the Cinque Terre and contributed more than 600 magazine articles. He has also flown in zero gravity during a European Space Agency campaign at Bordeaux-Merignac.