How far can you swim while holding your breath underwater? For freediver Patricia Paige Ong, it was a record-breaking 174m in a single breath with the use of bi-fins at the International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA) Panglao Pool Championship Finale in the Philippines in April 2022. And just last December, the 33-year-old achieved another national record when she swam a distance of 200m with a monofin.
“[I WANT TO] SEE HOW LONG, HOW FAR, AND HOW DEEP I CAN GO.”
These personal bests came two years after Patricia started freediving, an interest she picked up from an encounter in Indonesia.
“I was a newbie scuba diver exploring the waters off Gili Meno in Indonesia when I saw a man swim down to check out a turtle I was also looking at. Unlike me, he had no breathing apparatus,” she shares.
