Freediver Elisabeth Kristoffersen

Update - still breathing...

2011-04-20T16:25:00.006+02:00

... just not holding my breath very much these days. So what am I doing instead?After finishing my bacherlor degree in Aarhus in September 2010, I finally moved in with Martin in Berlin. I started the Master program in Molecular Medicine at the Charite University Medicine in October and have been pretty busy ever since. The studies take up more time now, as I have (very interesting) lab

Freediving as a musical installation - Berlin, Saturday 25th September

2010-09-18T19:35:00.003+02:00

I will hold my breath as a part of a musical installation exploring the various physiological responsens which take place during apnea. The piece is called "The Body is a Vessel" and is created by the swiss composer Robin Meier. It will take place on Saturday 25th September 7pm at the kleine Wasserspeicher, Prenzlauer Berg, Berlin. The installation is a part of the SuperCollider Symposium 2010.

Ear infections, hopes and expectations

2010-07-09T15:36:00.005+02:00

Since travelling to Okinawa, I had a small ear infection in my right ear. It hadn't given me any problems during the training, but after sitting around waiting for the CWT competition to happen, it decided to get worse to the point where it completely blocked me from leaving the surface. I kept trying to make it come around with ear drops etc, but I was unable to start in the competition. This

White cards and delays

2010-07-03T15:52:00.006+02:00

Bjarte made his dive today, getting a white card for the 75m and securing the first points for Norway. Well done! Apparently, the current was none excisting today, but instead the waves had picked up pretty good. The weather forecast has predicted strong wind tomorrow aswell, so the constant weight dives have been postponed. Hopefully we will get to dive on Monday 5th instead.Instead of going

Constant weight announcements

2010-07-02T16:18:00.006+02:00

The official training is over and the announcements for constant weigth is out. Half of the athletes will compete tomorrow, on Saturday, and the rest on Sunday. The Norwegian team starts as follows:3/7 - Bjarte Nygard, AP (announced performance): 75m, OT (official top): 11.324/7 - Steinar Schjager, AP: 70m, OT: 12:094/7 - Elisabeth Kristoffersen, AP: 60m, OT: 12:37The weather was a little

The 2010 World Championship has started!

2010-07-02T01:11:00.005+02:00

On Wednesday 30th June, all athletes, coaches and staff was ready to kick off the 2010 AIDA Team World Championship. At the opening ceremony, the teams were represented and welcomed to the first World Championship taking place in Asia (!). Although we are fewer teams than the last years, the competition will be fierce among top teams like Japan, Denmark and France. Our Norwegian team also looks

Depth training for the World Championship

2010-06-14T14:41:00.009+02:00

For us freedivers, training in the pool is all very well, but there is nothing which can compare with the ocean. I hadn't been deep diving since Dahab in April 2009, which made me feel like a fish on land. But, three weeks ago, I finally got to satisfy my longing for deep waters. Anna von Boetticher had invited a small bunch of freedivers for depth training in Nice, freediving heaven. And boy

Lazy blogger lately and WCh Team

2010-06-13T15:25:00.000+02:00

I'm sorry for this long time without any updates. I've been busy finishing my third and last year at Aarhus University, reading for my last exams and writing my bachelor report. Except for the normal pool trainings, I haven't done much exciting. But this is bound to change very soon.I'm off to Japan 24th July to take part in the AIDA Team World Championship, which is held in Okinawa this year. We

Freediver on NRK's "Glimt av Norge"

2010-04-02T22:15:00.006+02:00

Last year I had a couple of reporters from NRK (National TV of Norway) filming me in the pool and at my home town in Gjøvik, Norway. This was put together with interviews and underwater shots from Egypt by Stig Severinsen and Martin Müller. The result was a program about the freediver Elisabeth for the program series "Glimt av Norge" (Glimps of Norway). It was shown on Tuesday 31st March on

Final day at the Polish Championship, 21st March

2010-03-22T16:38:00.010+02:00

The Warsaw Mermaid is a great symbol for a beautiful city hosting a great freediving competition!The championship was over on Saturday, but two disciplines remained: The One Breath static competition wih a head-to-head final, and the DNF Only competition. The athmosphere at the pool was more relaxed and there were only 16 competitors, which allowed time to chat and have some fun.I must confess

1st place at Polish Freediving Championship, 20th March

2010-03-20T21:14:00.007+02:00

In static I had a very relaxed dive, floating around all the way to 5 min. Then coach Rune helped me push up to a final time of 5'31. I came up completely clean and got a white card, which was a great start of the day. Motivation was on top, and I enjoyed hanging out at the pool and watching the other performances (and sleeping a bit).The pool was 25m long, which is not ideal for dynamic, but

Upcoming: Polish competition 20.-21.March

2010-03-19T12:00:00.005+02:00

This weekend I will be competing at the Polish Freediving Championship, which is an open AIDA pool competition. On Saturday 20.March I will compete in STA and DYN, while on Sunday 21.March I have a special chance to improve my DNF record in the DNF Only competition.I will post updates and results as soon after the competition as possible. I'm looking forward to travelling to Polen for the first

Dynamic under ice

2010-03-07T18:22:00.007+02:00

Denmark has had an unusual cold winter with plenty of snow and ice. This opened up a great chance to go ICE DIVING again, almost exactly one year after my first try at Oslo Ice Challenge.Knudsø (Knud's Lake) in Ry had a nice layer of 38 cm thick ice. The Danish lakes are not really deep enough for CWT dives, so this time we went for distance instead. Stig Severinsen was going for a Guiness World

Physiological experiment at Lanchester University

2010-03-05T11:30:00.007+02:00

Some time back I got an email from a scientist at Lanchester University. He was looking for freediving volunteers for his current physiology project, involving cardiovascular regulation and control by breathing. After learning a little about the experiments and the hypothesis, I booked my flight for Friday 26th February. I was gonna be a test bunny :)The whole set-up was very professionel, and

1st place at Berlin Masters Cup, 20th Feb.

2010-02-22T09:42:00.009+02:00

My first competition of this year, the Berlin Masters Cup, was a great experience and lot's of fun. I hadn't had the normal amount of training, as I've been busy with my studies lately, so it was exciting to see what I could do. With great help from Anna von Boetticher, I got two good trainings before the competition and the strangest thing happened: I was enjoying static!I did a very comfortable

Monofin course in Berlin, 19th Feburary

2010-02-01T13:40:00.005+02:00

I will be giving a monofin course in Berlin, the day before the 12th Berlin Master competition. The course will be in english, but with german translations when necessary.The course is open for beginners and more experienced freedivers, as the level will be adapted to the participants. You don't have to have your own monofin either, but a pair of rubber training fins or similar would be good.The

Plans for 2010

2010-01-13T15:34:00.002+02:00

We have just started a new, exciting year and I'm already planning and dreaming about all the freediving I want to do!Berlin Master - competition + monofin course - 19.-20. FebruaryBizzy Blue Hole (inshalla)- Dahab, Egypt - 17.-30. April3rd Mediterranean Freediving World Cup, Greece, - 14.-20. JuneTeam World Championship - Okinawa, Japan - 30. June-10.JulyMost important is to get a female team (

Gjøvik Sports Award 2009

2010-01-10T16:30:00.006+02:00

The freediving year of 2009 finished off very well, as I got a letter saying that I had won a sports award from my home town Gjøvik. It was the first time they gave out "Gjøvik kommunes Idrettspris", so it was even a little bit historic. I'm very honored to recieve the price and hope for a good year in 2010 as well.

Diving at Nemo 33

2009-12-07T23:52:00.007+02:00

A week ago, I was travelling to Brussel to attend a research meeting, and I managed to put in a few extra days. The plan was very simple: see the city and go diving! Now most people think of a little peeing boy or chocolate when talking about Brussel, but the city also has a special pool, that is worth a visit.Nemo 33 is the name of the worlds deepest diving pool, built especially to attract

My first (part of a) marathon

2009-11-22T18:28:00.006+02:00

Last weekend, I travelled to Berlin together with the danish dynamics, Rune and Jesper, to help out at the annual Long Night of Apnea (yes, helping out. not competing!). The competition was not as long as usual, but very nice. Good performances and some impressive stamina at the 16x50m.The next day, we had gathered a little team of freedivers to join the Berlin Team Marathon! It was a sunny,

A closer look at hypoxia

2009-11-10T17:39:00.004+02:00

Lately, my days have been occupied by less freediving and more studying. I'm still training and trying to stay in shape, but having a break from the competition rush at the moment.I'm currently working on my bachelor project (to be finished in June 2010), which is somehow related to freediving. I will be studying how hypoxia is increasing the formation of new blood vessels in the body. A protein

Norwegian championship of freediving

2009-10-27T16:38:00.006+02:00

AIDA Norway and Oslo Freediving Club(OFK) held the first ever national championship in freediving 18th October in Askim. With 12 competitors, among them both new and old freedivers, the competition saw lot's of white cards and even a national record in STA (Bjarte Nygard).Big thanks to everybody from OFK for organizing, safetying, filming etc. Several people were both helping out and competing,

Monofin course in Oslo, 19th October

2009-10-05T15:20:00.004+02:00

I will be giving a monofin course in Oslo, 19th October, together with DNF world champion Bjarte Nygard. The course will take place in and outside the pool at Norges Idrettshøyskole, where Oslo Freediving Club has their training hours.The course is open for both beginners and experienced, as the level will be adapted to the participants. A monofin is not obligatory, small rubber fins or bifins

Inspiration

2009-10-04T20:40:00.003+02:00

People often have problems getting their head around the performances of us freedivers. They believe it's humanly impossible to hold your breath for much more than a min or two or dive deeper than the bottom of the swimming pool.I on the other hand, had big troubles accepting the huge performances of the top runners at the 36th Berlin Marathon, 20th september. These incredible athletes are (in my

A kickstart to training freediving again

2009-09-12T20:08:00.007+02:00

After the world championship was over, I found myself with a complete lack of training motivation. During the following two weeks I didn't even put my toe into the water. But now I thought it was time to get started again.My training buddy from this summer, Anna von Boetticher, appeared to have the same problem. Thus she decided to take Martin and the car and drive up to Aarhus to join me for a

Freediving - a learning experience

2009-09-06T22:21:00.009+02:00

One thing I've learned through my time as a competitive freediver, is that we're not that competitive at all... The best parts are often when we're all together, having fun and enjoying life (under water).I've got some great experiences and lots of nice memories from the World Championship in Aarhus, and these were some of the highlights:Parading through the streets of Aarhus with my Norwegian

Beautiful static pictures

2009-08-27T21:55:00.004+02:00

Morten Bjørn Larsen, danish photographer, took some great pictures from the competition and was kind enough to give me a copy of the ones he took of me. You can see his pictures in my other posts from the DYN and DNF disciplines.Also static can look cool if you know how to shoot it ;) This is Anna coaching me on the warm-up before my static dive to 6:02.

DYN A final: 183m and fourth place

2009-08-22T19:00:00.003+02:00

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed, happy and tired now that the finals are over. It was so exciting and there were so many good performances. My own dive was done almost on autopilot untill 150m, where my legs really started to give up on me. I kept swimming with my arms though, not wanting to come up, which got me all the way to 183m and another Norwegian record!!!I couldn't be more pleased with

DYN qualification: 178m and NR

2009-08-21T21:00:00.005+02:00

I came up maybe a little early in the static finals, at 5:14, but maybe it was a good idea to save some power for the dynamic qualification. This was the one dive I did not want to mess up in any way...5 minutes to official top I was listening to Maria Mena's "Calm under the waves" and slowly turn away from this world and into the dive. I kicked off and then pretty much fell a sleep the next 100m

STA: 6:02 and A-finals!

2009-08-20T17:15:00.004+02:00

Sometimes the body works for you, and even static is not that horrible, almost enjoyable. Today was one of those days. Much thanks to my lovely coach Anna, I made my first static past 6 minutes since the world championship in Hurgada, 2006.It was such a lovely dive, and I came up with more to go. I even made it into the A-finals, so I will dive side by side with Natalja, Kathryn, Lotta and the

New norwegian record: 118m DNF!!!

2009-08-19T21:55:00.004+02:00

I had a great start of the competition with a clean and nice 118m dive, which is a new national record by 5m. I also made it into the b-finals, which means I'm swimming again tomorrow and have a chance to improve the record still.The static competition is tomorrow morning and I'm starting at 10:34. Wish me luck!

FreeWC09 and Team Norway

2009-08-18T11:11:00.005+02:00

More and more athletes are arriving in Århus now, and everything is starting to be ready for the worldchampionship. The opening ceremony is this afternoon and the competition starts off with DNF tomorrow. My training has been going well, and I'm feeling confident so far :) See the full schedual and more info at www.freewc09.dk.From Norway we are a almost a full team, two women and four men. This

Sightseeing Aarhus!

2009-08-12T15:29:00.015+02:00

Kathryn and I took the sightseeing tour last weekend... The first thing on the on the list was The Aros, the city's biggest and most famous art museum with collections covering the 18th to the 21st century. The building itself is an amazing architectural experience with a spiral staircase connecting the 8 floors. We spent quite a few hours wandering among the paintings, sculptures and

Visit from New Zealand

2009-08-05T17:08:00.004+02:00

Kathryn McPhee is visiting me at the moment, a sidestop on her "around the world" trip (which includes the world championships etc). I traded a couch for some world class tips in DNF.One of these are closely connected to wearing a suit, which I have been considering for some time now. The extra bouancy and the weight give more momentum in the movement, and better glide. I really felt this on the

New PB: 125m DNF!

2009-07-28T23:11:00.004+02:00

I had a great day today, finally touching the other side of the pool at the 125m mark. And I even did it without my lovely monofin. Yes, my leg kick is kind of funny... But it seems to do the job ;)Arms and legs were pretty lactic afterwards, but that's okey. It was a truely great dive and I'll try to keep this feeling for the next weeks.I wanna send a big thanks to both Anna and Martin for the

Eat, sleep, train

2009-07-19T13:10:00.003+02:00

I'm spending most of July in Berlin with Martin, enjoying the city and the summer. Thanks to lucky circumstances (Anna getting sponsored by the gym Elexia and needing a buddy), I get to train alot as well.Martin does the job as a bossy coach very well, ordering Anna and me around, making us do numerous laps underwater and even train static. The focus has been on technique (especially in DNF),

Video: 150m DYN

2009-07-02T20:01:00.002+02:00

I had a nice training session last sunday, and I even got footage of it!It was a very good dive which showed me that my training is well on schedual so far and that I'm doing something right when it comes to the preparation and mentally coping with doing longer dives. I was struggeling after 50m and really wanted to come up, but once I got to 100m, I remembered that I did wanna get to the other

Catching my first fish!

2009-06-23T22:16:00.008+02:00

On Sunday I went out to Djursland with Mark from Aarhus Freediving Club to do some spearfishing. I have only tried it once before in the Oslo Fjord where I hardly saw any fish or got to try to shoot any. But this time I had more luck.Mark was kind enough to borrow me a gun and teach me some tricks. This is a part of freediving where I'm a complete newbie, and I felt a little funny working hard to

First pool PB in a good while

2009-06-18T22:45:00.002+02:00

Today I did a very nice 115m DNF, even using some extra energy because of too little weight (I think I need a 3kg neckweight instead of the 2,5kg...). It felt strong and there's several things I can improve on longer dives like this one, the style, the turns or the number of strokes.The most important thing is that my new warm up rutine is succeding in preparing both my body and my mind that THIS

What's up?

2009-06-16T12:34:00.004+02:00

It's been a little less freediving lately (exepct for normal training up to the WC) and more reading. June is exam month, which means that poor students like myself are locked up inside with thousands of pages to read while the sun is shining outside...Well, it't not really that bad and I've already halfway through, but I'm pretty jealous of the guys who's going off to Crete to freedive next week

CNF in the cold waters of Hemmoor

2009-05-27T22:58:00.009+02:00

Martin organized the 1st Hemmoor No-Fins Only last weekend, which involved exactly that: diving without fins. I did overcome some of my prior sceptism for this disiplin in Dahab, but I soon found out that it's a whole different game doing it in cold waters. With a 5mm suit and a mask, I had a really hard time getting anywhere! It didn't help that my body was feeling weak, my throat was sore and

1. place overall

2009-05-02T22:40:00.006+02:00

I must confess I'm very very happy with the results and the whole trip! The diving went almost perfect. I was doing the exact depth progression that I had hoped for, my ears were fit and working and I managed to stay pretty healthy. That's a very important part when in Egypt...The 65m dive was one of my best deep dives ever. I felt the urge to turn around at some point, but managed to turn my

What a day: CWT 65m NR and CNF 40m NR

2009-04-26T16:39:00.002+02:00

I'm gonna put some more reflextions on this day later, but thanks to Martin, the news got out yesterday already.And thanks to Fredrik, it made it to Dagbladet, a large norwegian newspaper!I couldn't be more happy or satisfied, making both my dives on a single day. Not only where they national records, but also pbs of 4m each!Even the 40m CNF dive went without problems, but afterwards I was dead

Freediving Ras Mohammed

2009-04-25T16:00:00.005+02:00

We had a great day freediving on the famous national park Ras Mohammed. Fredrik Naumann came along to take some stunning pictures, which can be seen here.Photo and copyright: Fredrik NaumannThere was a very friendly turtle swimming around, just grassing on some corals and watching the excited freedivers pass by. I think I love turtles even more after this encounter, and I already had a crush on

CNF 36m PB

2009-04-24T15:53:00.003+02:00

I'm surprising myself with the fact that I am capable of diving without fins. Before I always complained about my bad feet stroke and the fact that I'm equalizing with my hands, but it doesn't seem to hold up anymore (also due to the noseclip). So no more complaining, just training hard...When swimming back in, we found this huge morey eal crusing in and out of the corals just on the entry to

A flat sea and 61m

2009-04-23T22:04:00.010+02:00

This morning I got up extra early to do yoga with Hanli and the other freedivers. The sea was completely flat, everything was quiet and calm. Just a lovely start of the day.Then, when I got to the blue hole, I realized I had forgot my suit! Luckily I got to borrow a suit from Klara, and could get in the water and do my dive. I got down to 61m, managed the equalization and had a lovely swim back

Training is on track

2009-04-22T20:49:00.007+02:00

Hit 55m in CWT today, feeling good and strong still. I got to take a look at the beautifull arch before I turned around and swam back up to the surface. I also gave CNF another try, going for 35m. But I had a couple of problems with my noseclip, the bottom plate etc, and left it for another day. We're all having a good time here in Dahab, and it's getting more and more crowded in the Blue Hole.

New pb and hammerhead shark!

2009-04-20T20:08:00.004+02:00

The day started with a very nice and relaxed 50m dive, which boosted my confidence. The equalizing works well so far and my body is getting used to the pressure again. It can only go deeper from here.I decided to take a little rest while the others did some dives, and try a CNF dive. My pb and NR in this disciplin was set two years (!) ago to 25m, and it was really time to break it. I set the

2nd day and a little deeper

2009-04-19T21:44:00.004+02:00

Made it to 45m today, safety by Ingela and shot by Klara.We had a lot of rope trouble to start with, which messed up the first session for me. But after food and a nap, I was ready to try again. This time if felt much better. Even the cnf feels good now (22m), so that's a major step forward!As a little treat after diving, I had a banana pancake on the beach. I love this place, the weather and

Arrived in Dahab

2009-04-18T22:09:00.002+02:00

After a long flight with some extra waiting, lost luggage and a lot of sudoku's solved, 4 sweds, Trond Klimek and I arrived in Sharm el Sheik. We got picked up by Sebastian, organizer of the Bizzy Blue Hole competition, and drove through the mountains to Dahab.It feels very good to be back here (it's been a whole year!). Things are pretty much the way they were. The goats still eat paper, the

Training in Berlin: 106m DNF

2009-04-07T20:34:00.003+02:00

With some inspiration from Anna and a gentle push from Martin, I did gave DNF another go. The result: a 106m long dive which felt good!It gave me a good dose of motivation for training further and I'm starting to look farward to my next pool competition in Stockholm 9.-10. May. But before that, I get to go deep again. I'm off to Dahab and Bizzy Blue Hole on the 17. April. Can't wait!

Teaching and training in Berlin

2009-03-30T23:30:00.008+02:00

Anna von Boetticher, my good friend and fellow freediver, has set out to break all the german pool records. She and Martin (her full time coach for the attempt) has got started on a quite ambitious training program to get her in shape for the first weekend of May. The record attempt will take place in the pool of Elixia, which is sponsoring the event with free training for Anna and her coach.As I

Freedivers go skiing

2009-03-24T13:58:00.004+02:00

From left: Martin Müller, Dan Burton, Stig Severinsen, Guillaume Néry, Elisabeth Kristoffersen, Christian Maldamé and wild pony of unknown nameOn Monday after the Oslo Ice Challenge, we were a group of freedivers who wanted a little more or the Norway experience. The great snow fall had left exellent conditions for cross country skiing, which is the national sport of Norway. Being a native, I was

A cool experience

2009-03-15T21:48:00.005+02:00

I must confess I had my doubts on weather or not I would be able to cope with the freezing water temperatures under the ice in Oslo. Most of my deep diving have been done in Egypt or Sweden in the summer, and the coldest I had previously tried was 7-8 degrees. This was on a short dip in Mjøsa, Norway's biggest lake, in May 2006.But to look on the bright side, this would be a proof that I'm not so

Videos from Oslo Ice Challenge

2009-03-12T00:30:00.001+02:00

Here's a look at the set upAnd here's Thomas Grindevoll coming up from his 52m CWT dive

Oslo Ice Challenge report

2009-03-10T14:58:00.007+02:00