Brilliant performance as a team

Dived 11,000 meters: World record in Lake Neufeld

The ambitious apnea divers before the world record attempt in Burgenland.(Bild: Karl Grammer)

Five men dived in stages - symbolically - to the bottom of the Mariana Trench in northern Burgenland. With this spectacular action, they also wanted to draw attention to the littering of the world's oceans. 

At 10.50 a.m. yesterday, Christian Redl disappeared into Lake Neufeld with the words "It never gets any deeper". Four hours, 26 minutes and 31 seconds later, the 48-year-old resurfaced. And all without an oxygen tank!

Help from divers
Sounds impossible, but it is - even for a multiple world record holder in apnea diving. However, Redl received support from Jaromir Foukal, Thomas Morgl, Nino Röhrenbacher and Maurice Fellner.

Each of the five divers had to descend 20 meters 55 times and then ascend 20 meters again.(Bild: Grammer Karl)

Down 55 times 20 meters - and up again
Together they had set themselves the goal of conquering the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean with a depth of almost 11,000 meters - symbolically, of course.

Each of the five divers swam 55 times to the depth of 20 meters and back up again. Only one man was allowed underwater at a time, according to the rule, which was checked by Olaf Kuchenbecker, referee of the Record Institute Germany.

Referee Olaf Kuchenbecker from the Record Institute Germany at work.(Bild: Grammer Karl)

"Already a little proud"
While the divers seemed calm and highly focused at the start, the banter began to heat up in the afternoon. "It's almost getting boring," was one of the comments. Or: "It's going up and down faster than expected."

After a total of 275 dives, the world record was finally broken and the relief was great. "We conquered the Mariana Trench to the deepest point and achieved the unattainable," said Redl. "We were more than an hour faster than the previous record holders. That can make us a little proud."

It's done! The team with the record certificate.(Bild: Hans Langer)

Redl, Foukal, Morgl, Röhrenbacher and Fellner didn't just start the campaign as a joke - they also wanted to draw attention to the fact that there is plastic waste even at the deepest point of the world's oceans on behalf of the non-profit organization "7 Oceans". So after breaking the world record, the men collected dozens of bags of lumps from the bottom of Lake Neufeld.