Nicola Brischigiaro

Nicola Brischigiaro is an Italian freediver born in Dolo on 16 March 1970, who moved to Aosta in 1982. He first drew attention in 1994 by winning a bet on a television show, swimming 100 metres underwater in breaststroke without fins. In 1995 he set his first world record at Syracuse, finning 155.60 metres in 2 minutes 24 seconds, and in 1997 he set an AIDA world record of 111 metres of breaststroke apnea in Turin. He is best known for under-ice apnea, extending his distance from 25 metres in 1996 to 60, 80, 85 and in 2002, towed by an underwater scooter, 100 metres. He founded the Apnea National School and in 2010 swam about a hundred metres across St Mark's Square in Venice during a high tide.