Herbert Nitsch

Austrian Herbert Nitsch has dived deeper on a single breath than any man. While being above the clouds for his pilot-job, he has explored the boundaries of human ability in the ocean’s depths time and again, earning multiple world championships and 33 world records across all of the freediving disciplines — a feat unrivaled until today.

Herbert’s unique freediving career started with a single coincidence. In the late nineties, while on the way to a scuba dive safari, his diving equipment got lost somewhere in transit. So he went snorkeling instead of scuba diving during the entire vacation.

Unlike other elite freedivers Herbert is self-taught and developed his own freediving techniques over the years, a methodology that largely differs from traditional styles. 
 He was dubbed “the Deepest Man on Earth” after his No Limit world record to 214m (702’). No Limit is the original and ultimate freediving discipline in which by far the greatest depths are achieved with a weighted dive-sled and buoyancy device.

This pioneering spirit led him to the deepest freedive ever made, in a project called "Extreme 800", with a Guinness World Record dive to 253m (830’). However, Herbert suffered severe decompression sickness fifteen minutes after completing the dive. This resulted in multiple brain strokes, leaving him unable to walk, speak, or care for himself.

Not willing to accept his situation, he returned to what he did best: identifying his limits, and overcoming them. This time, however, his life depended on it. Using the same insights into his psychology and physiology that made him a world champion freediver, he was determined to regain his health and independence. His recovery-methods were controversial, and he received little support, yet he continued undeterred.

Two years later, against all odds, Herbert is fit and deep-freediving again.

Herbert has graced the pages of Red Bulletin, Men’s Health, GQ, Playboy, ESPN, Spiegel, Apnea, Deep, Tauchen, Stern, FOCUS, GEO, Paris Match, Penthouse, L’Equipe, Le Matin, HOME, Profil and many others. He has appeared on various radio shows, podcasts, TV shows, and documentaries for CBS 60 Minutes Sports, Red Bull, BBC, ORF, ZDF, ARTE, SRF, UPPROX, and Stern TV.


Each time I think I’ve reached a limit…

there is a door…

it opens…

and the limit is gone.

Herbert Nitsch