Umberto Pelizzari

Tricolor pride in the deep Blue

Umberto Pelizzari is widely considered among the best of all times. Pelizzari established world records in all outdoor freediving disciplines (Constant Weight, Variable Weight and No-Limits) that existed in the period when he competed.

It was very famous his rivalry with Cuban freediver, Pipin Ferreras, originally a close training friend. In No-Limits, Pelizzari and Ferreras led to the furthering of the limits of what was considered to be humanly possible at that time. Their rivalry is documented in the 2001 IMAX production Ocean Men: Extreme Dive.

During his career, he achieved 82 meters (262 feet) in Constant Weight, 131 meters (429 feet) in Variable Weight and 150 meters (492 feet) in No-Limits. His best performance in Static Apnea is 8’ and 19’56” (during medical tests) after breathing pure oxygen. Pelizzari has also founded Apnea Academy, the international freediving education association, and co-authored the widely used Manual of Freediving. Pelizzari is part of the Instructor staff of the famous Italian Special Intervention Group (G.I.S. Gruppo di Intervento Speciale dei Carabinieri). The Italian Ministry of the Interior has nominated him as a member of the Instructor staff to the divers of the Firefighters Corps. Pelizzari has been also working as a presenter and as guest in TV shows particularly focused on the environment.

www.umbertopelizzari.com