Hello, my name’s Alice Hickson and I’m a breath-holding beast! 🙂

I started freediving six months ago and have been breathless ever since.

In January I started training for the UK National Pool Championships held in March. This was my first competition so I went with little expectations, hoping to get a glimpse of competitive freediving.

It was an amazing experience and a great opportunity to learn from some of the best international freedivers. Not only did I set two new PB’s, I won the prize for Best Newbie. In one event I swam further than all of the women and most of the men with a distance of 156m – just over 3 lengths of an Olympic pool ON ONE BREATHE.

I now have the chance to represent the UK in this year’s Freedive World Championships in Belgrade, Serbia from 19 – 28 June

But what is Freediving?

It’s swimming underwater on one breathe; In a pool it’s known as Dynamic Apnea.

Without fins I can swim 115m. With a mono fin I’ve reached 156m, and this is only just the beginning. I’ve only been training for a short time and achieved distances that would take most athletes much longer to reach.

Freediving requires sport specific training, which I do with Bristol Freedivers. We practice breath holds in and out of the pool, as well as swimming and finning technique and the fine art of bubble rings!

My Finswimming coach Andrei likes to call it competitive relaxation, which always makes me laugh but, in a way, it is as much about the relaxation as it is fitness and technique; you have to be able to relax and be comfortable with the fact you’ll get more oxygen when you breathe… just in another minute or so…! Yoga and meditation aid relaxation and are common practice among freedivers although still quite new to me.

I also train with Neptune Finswimming club to build up my fitness and work on my mono-fining technique. I love being in the water, but when I’m not I’m usually cycling or running around.

More about me

I’m 25 years old and live in Bristol. I’m studying occupational therapy, which requires me to be in Oxford three days a week, whilst juggling work as a swimming instructor and gardener. In between this I’m training up to six times a week, leaving me little time to find extra funds. Entry to the World Championships alone is €525.

But, if I reach my PledgeSports target I can pay for:

Flights to Belgrade
Competition entry and accommodation at the AIDA World Championships
Pool hire for extra training and sport specific coaching
My goal is simple: to be the best I can be. I hope to go on to achieve National and International freediving success as I develop into a top-class mermaid!

I am a determined individual and I intend to work as hard as I can to achieve my goals and inspire others. It is with the support of individuals and organisations like yours, that I will have the opportunity to try and succeed in reaching my goal. Any donations, regardless of the amount, are a great help in realising my potential for competing and representing the UK in the underwater world.

THANK YOU for taking the time to read my campaign 🙂

#FreediveWorldChampionships

Alice