Jackie Dent breaks US National Record-DNF 142 meters

Australian Pool Freediving National Championships, Wahroonga, Australia, May 7th, 2016

Jackie Dent broke the USA Women’s National Freediving Record in the discipline of Dynamic No Fins (DNF) with a swim of 142 meters / 466 feet on a single breath.

Swim time: 3 minutes 10 seconds. Previous record: 132m/ 433 feet, set by Shell Eisenberg on April 7th, 2016.

Jackie said she “felt confident and ready for this dive, despite my stomach doing continual backflips. The atmosphere around the pool was buzzing and the water was cold so I was having a little trouble getting in the zone. As soon as my head submerged, my nerves disappeared and I was in my own little world.

I felt much more streamlined than normal, I was really enjoying my glides. I was told later that it looked as if I was waiting until I was completely still before I took a kick or a pull. I was just enjoying the sensation of the journey.”

Jackie is a freediving and yoga instructor who lives and trains in Perth, Australia. She trains in a pool, near her house, twice a week with her partner and coach Dave Gull.

Dynamic No Fins (DNF) is performed by swimming without fins in a pool with the athlete holding their breath swimming as far as they can using a modified breaststroke technique. Distance is measured with the use of a metered tape measure.