On the opening day of the World Apnea 2026 Pool Championships, held at Budapest's Duna Arena from 30 May to 7 June, Polish freediver Magdalena Solich-Talanda swam 270 metres underwater on a single breath in the Dynamic Bi-Fins (DYNB) discipline — using fins, no breathing, one continuous length after length of the pool.
270 metres on one breath — roughly two and a half football fields, underwater, without air.
The distance beat the previous world record, 259 metres, set only the year before by Hungary's own Zsófia Töröcsik on home turf. Solich-Talanda's swim is pending official ratification by AIDA International, freediving's governing body, but it already stands as one of the most significant results of the championships.
A Decade of Quiet Records
It's not a first for her. Solich-Talanda has held world records across the dynamic freediving disciplines since 2016, adding steadily to a discipline where progress is measured in single-digit metres and hard-won seconds of breath-hold. Her Budapest swim was part of a broader run of records at the championships, with Polish freedivers leading what's been described as a "world-record blitz" across multiple events.
For a discipline built entirely on what the human body can do without external air, a decade of a single athlete steadily pushing the number further is its own kind of quiet marathon.
Image credit: Duna Aréna in Budapest, host venue of the World Apnea Pool Championships