Guillaume Néry - Reaching New Depths

Following an accident that nearly killed him, world champion freediver Guillaume Néry took a break from competing. He’s diving back in three years later, but with a different purpose this time, as Annabel Tan finds out

- Annabel Tan

Freediving has been an integral part of Guillaume Néry’s life from an early age. The French freediving champion grew up in Nice, by the Mediterranean Sea, and took his first plunge into the sport – diving on a single held breath instead of using breathing apparatus like scuba gear – at the age of 14. At 20, he became the youngest freedive record holder in the world when he reached a depth of 87m. Néry went on to break three more world records in the following years and won two World Freediving Championship titles in the Constant Weight category.

In 2015, Néry attempted a 129m dive in Cyprus during the pre-competition to the aida Individual World Championship. Had he succeeded, the Frenchman would have broken yet another world record. The organising body, aida International, made a mistake while measuring the guide line though, and sent Néry down to 139m instead. Although he succeeded in reaching the bottom, he blacked out at 15m while resurfacing. The near-death experience and accompanying lung injury prompted Néry to retire from competing, but he never really left the sea; he continued to freedive, and went on to make several beautiful underwater films with his wife, who is also a freediver.

Néry’s impressive results – as both competitor and film-maker – drew the attention of Panerai, which brought him on board as its brand ambassador. The two also collaborated to create limited editions of the Submersible; the new Submersible Chrono Guillaume Néry Edition was introduced at sihh this year, and each of the rarer, 15-piece limited-edition reference comes with an offer for its owner to learn freediving from Néry in French Polynesia this September.