Tom Sietas

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Tom Sietas (born January 12, 1977 in Hamburg, Germany) is a free diver who specialises in the “static apnea” event (holding his breath under water) and the “dynamic apnea” event (swimming the furthest possible distance underwater horizontally without breathing). Sietas started free diving at age 23 after taking a course in scuba diving. As of June 2008 Sietas holds one free diving world record: an incredible 10 minutes and 12 seconds in Static Apnea (pending AIDA ratification). He achieved this June 07, 2008 in Athens, Greece breaking his own previous record of 9 minutes and 15 seconds.

On August 9, 2007, Tom broke the Guinness World Record for the longest time to hold one's breath underwater at 15:02 (15 minutes and 2 seconds), on the American television talk show Live With Regis and Kelly. He had prepared for this record by inhaling pure oxygen for 20 minutes before the attempt. (the official World Record, done with judges from AIDA SUI, in Static Apnea with pure oxygen, is 16'04", Peter Colat from Switzerland, February 10th, 2007 in St. Gallen, SUI)

On April 3, 2008, Tom broke the Guinness World Record for the longest time in Static Apnea on an Italian TV programme (Guiness World Records, Canale 5, conducted by Barbara d'Urso) at 16:14 (16 min 14 secs) after inhaling pure oxygen for several minutes.

According to Sietas' blog on his website, he is currently preparing for static and dynamic apnea world record attempts.