• last month
After geopolitics forced him into exile, Alexey Molchanov spent 2023 on a journey to reclaim his athletic glory and hono | dG1fNnpOeklrRFZlYms
Transcript
00:00I'm going to be there.
00:17As you go down and down and
00:18down, the heart rate starts
00:19dropping.
00:20There's an astonishing amount
00:21of pressure exerted on the
00:22lungs.
00:23You get dizzy and have lesions
00:25that are not real.
00:27Divers themselves very much
00:29I'm very competitive.
00:30Always have been since I was a
00:32kid.
00:33Alexei is the greatest
00:34freediver in the world.
00:36If Alexei can get all five
00:38world records within the same
00:39season, it would be something
00:41that's never been done before.
00:43My mom was my coach since the
00:44beginning.
00:45Natalia Molchanova is widely
00:46considered the greatest
00:47freediver of all time.
00:49She'd had 41 world records and
00:5123 world titles.
00:53They were like best friends,
00:54and now Alexei is training to
00:56follow in the footsteps of
00:58his mother.
00:59But that can be dangerous.
01:0140 meters, 50, 100, 140.
01:06Natalia was teaching in Spain
01:08and went down on a fun dive,
01:10and she didn't come back up.
01:12And I was so surprised to see
01:14Alexei was competing.
01:15I was thinking, oh, my God, can
01:17you not take a year off or so?
01:20That was his way to overcome
01:23the pain.
01:24Alexei is going deeper than he
01:26has been before.
01:27He is going too far.
01:29Have you and your wife ever
01:30talked about what would happen
01:31if you didn't come back?
01:33No.
01:34I don't understand the reasoning
01:36for adding eight meters to a
01:39dive that you failed.
01:41Expect a dive time, four
01:42minutes.
01:43Alexei doesn't see himself in
01:45any danger, but does that
01:47Formula One driver think they
01:49could die when they get behind
01:50the wheel?
01:52There are risks we are willing
01:53to take and we get comfortable
01:55with, and because of that, we
01:57don't think that we are immune
01:58to them.
02:07When you have this
02:08physiological ticket to
02:09eternity, that would be
02:11addictive.