Alessia Zecchini (born 1992) is an Italian
freediver
Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear.
Besides the limits of breath- ...
who set world and Italian records in freediving.
At the age of 13, she completed her first federal apnea course in A.s.d. "Apnea Blu Mare". In 2009 she changed clubs and became an athlete of Dive Free Roma and Nuoto Belle Arti.
Since 2012, she has been part of the indoor and outdoor Italian national freediving team, so far winning sixteen gold medals, five silver and two bronze at the World Championships
and three golds, six silvers and one bronze at the European Championships.
She is currently holds the depth record with her −113 m
in constant weight (monofin), achieved in August 2019 during the World Championship in
Roatán
Roatán () is an island in the Caribbean, about off the northern coast of Honduras. It is located between the islands of Utila and Guanaja, and is the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras. The island was formerly known in English as Ruatan ...
,
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
.
On 18 October 2019 she became the first woman to have reached a depth of −100 m
exclusively with the use of her arms (free immersion), during the “Nirvana Oceanquest” in
Curacao.
Career
From 2007 to 2010, Zecchini attended in rallies with the national team, although she could not compete in the top category due to her young age.
In 2011, she participated in her first Italian championship in
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, taking second place, behind Ilaria Bonin. The placings achieved also in the following year earned her the call to be part of the national team. In 2012, she participated in her first CMAS European Championship
in
Antalya
Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...
, achieving good placings (fourth place in Jump Blue and sixth in static apnea).
In 2013, during the CMAS World Championship
in
Kazan
Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...
, she won the gold medal in static freediving (STA) with a time of 6' 23", then obtained a medal in every discipline, including a silver in dynamics without fins (DNF) and a bronze in dynamic with monofin (DYN).
At the Italian Depth Championship in Ischia, she achieved her first CMAS world record in constant weight with the monofin (CWT) with −81 m.
In 2013, Zecchini used the guide rope to pull herself down to a depth of 81 meters without using ballast or fins and thereby set a new world record in the free immersion discipline recognized by the
Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques
Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) is an international federation that represents underwater activities in underwater sport and underwater sciences, and oversees an international system of recreational snorkel and scu ...
(CMAS).
In 2014, she participated in her first
AIDA International
Association Internationale pour le Développement de l'Apnée (AIDA) (English: ''International Association for the Development of Apnea'') is a worldwide rule- and record-keeping body for competitive breath holding events, also known as freedivi ...
competition, the Team World Championship in Cagliari, winning three silver medals in dynamic apnea with the monofin with 223 m, in static apnea with the time of 6' 39", in constant weight with a depth of −84 m and setting two Italian records. At the CMAS European
Championship held in Tenerife, she won the silver medal in dynamic apnea with monofin (DYN) with 218 m, and third place in the static apnea competition with a time of 6' 08".
During the Italian depth championship in Ischia, she achieved her second CMAS world record
in constant weight with the monofin (CWT) with −86 m.
In 2015, she took part in the CMAS Indoor
World Championship in
Mulhouse
Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...
and, together with her partner Ilaria Bonin, they won five gold and silver medals. Zecchini won the competition in dynamics without fins (DNF) with 165 m, also setting the CMAS world record. In that same competition, she also won two silvers (DYN with 234 m and STA with a time of 6'35"). During the Outdoor World Championship in Ischia, organised by the Italian Federation of Sport Fishing and Underwater Activities, she won three gold medals with relative world records: in constant weight with monofin (CWT) with −93 m, in constant weight without tools (CNF) with −58 m and in jump blue (JB) with 190 m. Once again, in June 2016 in Lignano Sabbiadoro, during the CMAS Indoor World Championships: three golds and three CMAS world records with 171 m in dynamics without fins, 204 m in dynamics with fins (DYNBP) and 250 m in dynamics with monofin (DYN).
In 2017, she began her outdoor training with international coach and safety diver Stephen Keenan, who died during a training accident with Zecchini in June of that year. Subsequently, she was under the guidance of Martin Zajac up until the conclusion of the 2018 competition season. In the same year she beat the AIDA world record with −104 m depth in the Vertical Blue competition on May 10 on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
in the
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
. During the last days of the competition,
Natalia Molchanova's record in constant weight (CWT) of −101 m (which had been held for six years), was beaten three times. On May 6, Zecchini was the first to go down and take off the tag at −102 m; breaking the world record. Four days later, Hanako Hirose dropped to −103 m but minutes later she went on to detach the tag at −104 m, setting another world record.
A month later, she participated in the CMAS European Indoor Championship in
Cagliari
Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...
swimming pool where she won three medals out of the three competitions (first place in DYN, second in DNF and second in DYNBP). In August of the same year, she participated in the AIDA World Championships in Roatan where she became world champion in free-immersion setting a new Italian record at −88 m and vice world champion in constant weight with monofin with −98 m.
A disqualification denied her the silver medal even in constant weight without fins. In October, at the CMAS European Championship in
Kaş
Kaş (; el, Αντίφελλος, translit=Antífellos, translit-std=ISO) is a small fishing, diving, yachting and tourist town, and a district of Antalya Province of Turkey, 168 km west of the city of Antalya. As a tourist resort, it is re ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, she won two silver medals in CWT and CNF with −93 m and −63 m, a new Italian record. Also in the same year, during the Dungoncup in Milazzo she achieved the world record in dynamic apnea without fins with 181 m.
In 2018, Zecchini set the new AIDA world record in constant weight (CWT) on 10 May in San Andrès in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
in the Nirvana Oceanquest Freediving Competition. A month later, at the Indoor World Championships in Lignano Sabbiadoro, she won two silver medals in DYN and DNF and a gold medal in the bi-fin discipline where she set the new world record with 221 m. In July, in Long Island, in the prestigious Vertical Blue competition, she confirmed herself as the strongest freediver by winning the overall and setting four world records AIDA in all depth disciplines: – Constant weight without fins with −73 m, Free immersion with −93 m and then −96 m and Constant weight with monofin with −107 m.
In September of the same year, she participated in the Dugoncup Outdoor in Milazzo setting two other world records in CWT (−101 m) and FIM (−89) but this time under the aegis of CMAS, before flying to the first edition of the Molchanova Gran Prix in memory of Natalia Molchanova, winning the competition. She participated in the CMAS Outdoor World Championship by winning three golds in the three competitions held, CWT, CNF and FIM where she set four CMAS world records, bringing the WR in constant weight with CMAS and AIDA to the same depth of −107 m.
In April 2019, during the Dungoncup in
Milazzo
Milazzo ( Sicilian: ''Milazzu''; la, Mylae; ) is a town (''comune'') in the Metropolitan City of Messina, Sicily, southern Italy; it is the largest commune in the Metropolitan City after Messina and Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto. The town has a p ...
, she again set the world record in dynamic free diving without fins with 193 m.
In June 2019, she participated, together with the Italian National team, in the CMAS Indoor
European Championship in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, winning two gold medals with relative world records, 228 m in dynamics with fins and 253 m with monofin, and a silver medal in dynamics without fins. On 7 August 2019, during the CMAS Outdoor World Championship in
Roatan in
Honduras
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...
, at a depth of −113 meters, she set the new world record in constant weight freediving with monofin at the same time as Slovenian
Alenka Artinik.
During this event, she won three gold medals in CWT, CNF and FIM and set four world records during the competition and the competition that preceded it, the
Caribbean Cup 2019.
During the Nirvana Oceanquest 2019 event in
Curacao, she set two world records in the discipline of free immersion under the aegis of AIDA with −98 m on October 16, 2019.
Two days later, with −100 m approved by CMAS, she became the first woman to touch this depth using only her arms.
In July 2021, Zecchini participated in the Vertical Blue on
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
,
Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...
, winning the overall again and setting 3 CMAS World Records: -115 CWT, -74 CNF, -101 FIM.
In October, she took part in the CMAS Outdoor World Championship 2021, in ''Kaş,'' winning a gold medal in CNF and one silver medal in CWTB. During the "CMAS TSSF ''Kaş'' Baska Freediving WC (competition before the world championship), she set a new world record in her first competition in CWTB with the depth of -105 mt, 10 meters more than the previous record.
Honors
Asteroid
300124 Alessiazecchini, discovered by Italian amateur astronomer
Silvano Casulli
__NOTOC__
Vincenzo Silvano Casulli, usually known as Silvano Casulli (25 August 1944 – 24 July 2018 in 2006, was named in her honor.
The official was published by
IAU
The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach ...
's
Working Group Small Body Nomenclature
In ancient times, only the Sun and Moon, a few stars, and the most easily visible planets had names. Over the last few hundred years, the number of identified astronomical objects has risen from hundreds to over a billion, and more are discovered e ...
on 21 March 2022.
Accomplishments
Medals won, beginning from the first international competition in
Kazan' in 2013:
World Records:
During her carrier she set 31st World Records in the indoor and outdoor disciplines of freediving, 23 homologated by CMAS
CMAS and 8 by
AIDA
''Aida'' (or ''Aïda'', ) is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni. Set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, it was commissioned by Cairo's Khedivial Opera House and had its première there on 24 December ...
.
Clarification:
* STA = Static Apnea – Holding the breath as long as possible.
* DYN = Dynamic Apnea with fins – Diving as far as possible with the use of fins or a monofin.
* DNF = Dynamic Apnea without fins – Diving as far as possible without fins.
* CWT = Constant weight with fins – Diving as deep as possible with the use of fins or a monofin.
* CNF = Constant weight without fins – Diving as deep as possible without fins.
* FIM = Free Immersion – Diving as deep as possible by pulling down and up the rope.
References
External links
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zecchini, Alessia
Italian freedivers
Living people
Divers from Rome
1992 births