Taiwanese freediver Chan Kai-hsiang on Wednesday won three gold medals and broke two Asian records at an international championship in Japan.
Chan claimed gold in the Dynamic With Fins (DYN) and Dynamic Without Fins (DNF) events at the 34th International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA) Freediving Pool World Championship in Wakayama, swimming 300m with fins and 240m without, both in a single breath. His 300m swim also set a new Taiwanese national record.
He also won silver in the Dynamic With Bifins (DYNB) event, covering 270m in one breath, and set another national record in the Static Apnea (STA) by holding his breath for 8 minutes, 41 seconds — his second domestic record of the meet.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan’s freediving development association
With a combined score of 509.2 points across four disciplines, Chan was crowned the overall men’s champion, securing his third gold medal at the AIDA competition.
Chan’s most notable achievement was breaking the continental records with his swims in the DNF and DYNB events, setting new distance benchmarks for Asia.
Fellow Taiwanese freediver Lee Po-yen briefly held the Asian DNF record with a 202m swim at the same championship before Chan surpassed it. Lee’s overall score of 450.6 points earned him third place and a third bronze medal at the competition.
His other two bronze medals came from the DNF event and the DYNB, the latter involving a 264m swim.
Together, Chan and Lee’s successes helped Taiwan earn three gold, one silver and three bronze medals at the competition.
Both men also received the AIDA’s Natalia Molchanova Memorial Award, given to the championship’s most accomplished freedivers.
In womens events, Taiwan’s Liu Yu-han and Lin Hsin-ju set new national records. Lin broke the national DNF record with a 138m swim, surpassing the previous mark set by Hsieh Hsin-ying.
Lin’s record was overtaken by debutant Liu, who swam 153m and also set a new Taiwanese STA record by holding her breath for 6 minutes, 39 seconds.
Chen Yu-jung, who has held Taiwan’s female DYN record since 2023, broke her own record by swimming 215m.
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