Man sets record for underwater breath hold in mission to shatter disability stereotypes

A Polish man who lost the use of his limbs in a car accident has broken a record to help shatter stereotypes about disability.

Dad-of-one Sebastian Górniak wants everyone to know that people with disabilities can still achieve incredible things.

The 52-year-old, who works as a coach, claimed the record for longest time breath held voluntarily underwater (male) (MP4) with a time of 5 min 41.9 sec in Wroclaw, Poland, last October.

MP4 refers to one of our impairment classifications which aim to make record breaking fair and accessible to everyone.

Sebastian has a C6/7 spinal cord injury with a retained hematoma at C3, which means he has four-limb paralysis.

And taking on this record attempt was all about his “desire to compete with able-bodied athletes”.

Sebastian prepared for his attempt by completing endurance training, boxing, swimming, wheelchair racing, and apnea exercises to improve how long he could hold his breath.

He says he has a “never give up” attitude and that the best advice he can offer people is to work hard in “every area of life”.

He added: “Whatever happens, don’t give up on your goals. Dreams come true - sometimes a little later, sometimes in a different way.”

Read about more amazing physical feats in our dedicated Human Body section.

When he’s floating in the water holding his breath, Sebastian says he tries to chill out completely and “avoid thinking about anything stressful”.

He’s since upped his breath hold to a personal best of 6 min 22 sec and is planning to take on another record, under the ice next time.

Hitting home his message of perseverance, he said: “It’s worth setting goals for yourself and achieving them.”

We hope Sebastian’s story inspires others to go for their goals, even if they think they can’t do it.

The overall record for longest time breath held voluntarily underwater (male) was set by Vitomir Maričić (Croatia) last year with a time of 29 min 3 sec.