Nataliia Zharkova has a background in professional swimming and more than 10 years experience as a top-level freediving athlete.

She has amazing records in Bi-fins, Constant No Fins and teaches workshops all over the world.

In this episode we discuss:

Nataliia was back in Dahab at the time of recording, but thinking about new horizons.
Growing up in the Ukraine, swimming and finding freediving for the first time.
Already 11 years in freediving.
Training two times a day as a young swimming athlete.
How much does a swimming background help with freediving?
The advantage of an athelete’s mindset.
Nataliia coaches herself.
The biggest achievements of Nataliia’s career so far.
Shout out to our friend Viktor Reshetniak.
A breakdown of how she is preparing for The World Championships.
She enjoys medium paced runs and different running styles.
Nataliia’s favourite discipline is CWTB and why that is.
A Patreon question from Nays Baghai about recommended workouts to get better at CWTB dives.
Does she like to exercise on a breathhold?
Was depth ever challenging psychologically?
Another question from Nays…what does she focus on during the freefall?
What really holds people back from getting deep?
Thoughts on nutrition and food.
Experience with lung squeeze and other barotrauma.
Nataliia loves windsurfing and boards.
Plans to open a school, Deep Division.
A question from Chris Breijnik about good dive sites in Ukraine.
Nataliia recommends Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.
Politics in Ukraine.
About Nataliias Bifins and No Fins workshops.
Shout out to Nataliia’s boyfriend, first trainer Mikail and her goddaughters.

Nataliia’s Links:

Instagram

Deep Division on Facebook

Facebook Athlete’s Page