The AIDA World Freediving Championship (AIDA World Championship) is the premier event in the freediving world, drawing the most elite athletes from every nation. Held twice a year, it is divided into a pool competition and a depth competition. This year's AIDA 30th Pool World Championship took place from June 10–17 in Jeju City, South Korea — marking the first time AIDA has brought a world championship to Asia. Taiwan sent a team of 12 athletes, making it the fourth-largest contingent at this edition of the championship, behind China (23 athletes), South Korea (22), and Japan (18).
Six Taiwanese Records Shattered — Taiwan's Athletes Become the Talk of the Competition
Taiwan's team delivered a stunning performance at the AIDA 30th Pool World Championship, collecting a total of 43 white cards, breaking 5 Taiwanese records, claiming a bronze medal in one discipline, and finishing third in the overall points standings.
Summary of Taiwan's overall results
On the first day of competition (6/12), the Dynamic with Bifins (DYNB) event saw many athletes post impressive distances of over 200 m. Among them, Taiwan's Liu Yu-Fang led the charge by breaking the Taiwanese record with a distance of 208 m, becoming the first Taiwanese woman ever to successfully complete a 200 m dynamic dive. Athlete Li Bo-Yan also delivered a record-breaking performance of 250 m that brought the entire venue to its feet. Competition commentator Catherine Crossland told us after the event that Li Bo-Yan is her favourite athlete and that every one of his performances is something to look forward to.
Athlete Li Bo-Yan's record-breaking performance of 250 m brought the entire venue to its feet.
In the Dynamic No Fins (DNF) event that followed (6/13), Taiwan's team also impressed. The top men's result came from Li Bo-Yan with 164 m, while Chang Yi-Hsien and Tao Cheng-Hsi posted strong results of 153 m and 156 m respectively. On the women's side, Lin Hsin-Ju led with 135 m. Although Lin had not originally planned to focus on the DNF discipline, she came within just 1 m of the existing Taiwanese record of 136 m — set by Hsieh Hsin-Ying — a result that left everyone deeply impressed by the calibre of Taiwan's athletes.
Athlete Lin Hsin-Ju posted the best result in the women's category with a distance of 135 m.
In the Static Apnea (STA) event (6/15), Taiwan's Lin Hsin-Ju was first into the water and immediately delivered an outstanding performance, holding her breath for 6 minutes 27 seconds to break the Taiwanese record by a remarkable 23 seconds. While none of the male athletes set new Taiwanese records, Hsiao Chih-Jung, Chan Kai-Hsiang, and Hsu Yueh-Hsiang all put in excellent performances, each achieving a breath-hold time of over 7 minutes.
Athlete Hsiao Chih-Jung delivered an excellent performance with a breath-hold time of over 7 minutes.
In the final Dynamic with Fins (DYN) event (6/16), Hsu Yueh-Hsiang wasted no time, swimming 264 m early in the session to break his own Taiwanese record (previously 259 m). Not to be outdone, Li Bo-Yan once again chose to compete with bifins, once again reaching 250 m — proving to everyone present just how formidable Taiwan's freedivers truly are.
Athlete Hsu Yueh-Hsiang
Athlete Li Bo-Yan
On the women's side, Liu Yu-Fang was the first to set a new Taiwanese record with a distance of 200 m, only to be surpassed moments later by Chen Yu-Jung, who posted a clean 209 m white card to break the record again and become the second Taiwanese woman ever to complete a 200 m dynamic dive.
Athlete Liu Yu-Fang
Athlete Chen Yu-Jung
Fierce Asian Competition — Hsu Yueh-Hsiang Claims Bronze, Li Bo-Yan Takes Third Overall
This championship featured a large and exceptionally talented Asian contingent. Japan's Mai Morimura broke three Asian women's records in a row, while China's Jin Ming and Zhang Yi claimed gold medals and new Asian records in DYN and DYNB respectively. The results made clear that Asia is a force to be reckoned with in freediving, and that holding the championship in Asia gave athletes from the region far greater opportunities to shine.
Beyond the outstanding results themselves, the quality and maturity of Taiwan's athletes came as a genuine surprise to competitors from other nations. Many of them expressed a strong desire to visit Taiwan and train alongside Taiwanese freedivers — and there was widespread astonishment when they learned that Taiwan's domestic pool competitions already draw as many as 160 participants.
Athletes exchanging tips and experiences poolside.
Bronze medallist Hsu Yueh-Hsiang shared: "I feel like I broke through beyond what I'd achieved in training and pushed past where I was before. The earlier events didn't go quite how I'd hoped, but having this result at the end makes me really happy." Overall third-place finisher Li Bo-Yan said: "I'm thrilled and honestly a bit surprised to have achieved this result. I'll keep working hard — I hope one day I can break an Asian record." Li also took the opportunity to highlight the lack of accessible training venues in Taipei, remarking: "The freediving training environment in Taiwan is really limited. When you need to train intensively in Taipei, there just aren't suitable venues available. I hope pools in Taiwan can become more accessible in the future."
Bronze medallist Hsu Yueh-Hsiang
Final points standings:
Men's category
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Li Bo-Yan — 406.6 pts — 3rd overall
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Hsu Yueh-Hsiang — 394.1 pts — 5th overall
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Chang Yi-Hsien — 377.9 pts — 9th overall
Women's category
- Liu Yu-Fang — 322 pts — 7th overall
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