People genuinely mind-blown after learning how long man held his breath underwater for in ‘insane’ world record

People online are losing their minds after realizing how long a freediver held his breath for.

There’s nothing easy about breaking a world record- particularly when it comes to partaking in extreme sports. But freediving might just be one of the most dangerous things you could ever train your body for.

If you don’t know, freediving is when a person will dive down to the depths of the ocean, often to hundreds of feet until they can no longer withstand the crushing pressure of the water.

While many will take an oxygen tank with them, others have been able to train their breathing to the point where they can hold their breath for the entire duration of the dive.

Croatian freediver Vitomir Maričić managed to be crowned with a Guinness World Record after holding his breath for far longer than most people could survive.

On June 14, he ducked down in a pool and stayed there for 29 minutes and 3 seconds. His accomplishment reached nearly five minutes longer than the previous record, and it’s nearly double the time a bottlenose dolphin can survive under the water without coming up for air.

The man might as well be aquatic at this point.

His feat was so shocking that people absolutely lost their minds online once they heard about his record.

One person wrote: “yoo this is literally insane.”

Another said: “That's absolutely mind blowing.”

Someone else commented: “This dude is the real Aqua man.”

Previously, Spanish freediver Aleix Segura held his breath for over 24 minutes in 2016.

Maričić was able to complete this task after breathing pure oxygen for ten minutes before the dive. This saturated his blood with oxygen, making it easier for him to withstand the dive.

According Maričić’s Instagram, he started the dive with approximately five times more oxygen circulating through his body than the average person.

But even without the help, he can hold his breath underwater for ten minutes, which is no small win. That’s already superhuman compared to the rest of us, who start panicking as soon as our heads dip under the surface.

As for who can hold their breath the longest when it comes to being unaided by extra oxygen, that would be Serbian freediver Branko Petrovic, who hit 11 minutes and 35 seconds in 2014.

If you’re thinking of giving it a go, be warned- it might not be the breath holding that harms you but coming up for air.

Nicholas Mevoli was dedicated to freediving, the sport which is featured in Netflix’s documentary The Deepest Breath. Mevoli worked in television while enjoying freediving in his free time, and he soon became the first American to dive to 100 metres without any additional air.

However, in 2013, one of his dives turned fatal as he attempted to break a record at a competition in the Bahamas.

Mevoli was trying to reach a 72-metre depth, and after resurfacing three minutes and 38 seconds underwater, he flashed the ‘OK’ sign.

But the 32-year-old suddenly lost consciousness and died as a result of ‘pulmonary hemorrhage due to barotrauma’ due to the pressure on his body when resurfacing.