Liv Philip & Mike Board Are UK National Freediving Champions

The UK National Freediving Champions are Liv Philip, and Michael Board! Collating points earned across all six competitive disciplines, in pool and depth, is how the selection of the annual male and female UK Champions is made. Liv and Mike are two of the most experienced freedivers in the UK and even with their level of experience and achievements, what comes across clearly from speaking with them is their genuine love for the sport, especially of the sea, and the importance of support of their fellow freedivers.

18. 2. 2015

Liv Philip: I'm very happy to be the British Champion again this year. It has been a challenging year and I have not had as much time as I would have liked in the water. For this reason, the time I did have was all the more special. Being in the sea was wonderful and my deep diving is going from strength to strength. After winning the World Cup Circuit, I did a number of personal bests, culminating in my last dive of the season at the World Championships of 70m Constant Weight. This is the eighth successive year I have won the British Championship and my relationship to the sport has changed and developed over the years. Next year I hope to spend some time in the ocean, as this is what I love best.

Photo: © Alex Chadiaris

Freediving is a unique sport that requires total trust in those around you and I would like to thank my fellow freedivers Tim Money and Anna Von Boetticher who have been a tower of strength in the water and out, to the support of the entire UK Team during the Team World Championship, and to my friends at London Freediving. Freedivers are very special people. I look forward to swimming again with them all in the 2015 season.

Photo: © Anne-Louise Fortin

Michael Board: I am really happy to hear that I have been announced British Champion this year. It was one of my goals for 2014 and so the announcement was a welcome surprise! I had actually set it as one of my goals in order to force me to train in the pool and register some official results as I had previously only done depth. This was also the reason that I went to the 2014 World Team Championships in Sardinia, to make me start training Static (STA) and Dynamic Apnea (DYN), the aim being to do 200m DYN and 7 min STA.

Photo: © Daan Verhoeven (www.daanverhoeven.com)

I still prefer the depth disciplines but I can see the value of being a more all round freediver and strength in the pool does help in depth diving. My goal for 2015 is to start doing Constant No Fin (CNF) too. This will be a fun challenge as currently my technique takes me two steps forwards and one step back. Thanks to the rest of the 2014 UK Freediving team for the support at the 2014 World’s, it was a great experience. I hope we will continue to see British Freediving gaining in strength at the 2015 Individual World Championships.