What's the record for holding your breath underwater? How long it's actually possible

How long can you hold your breath? Are you trying it right now?

How long it’s actually possible to hold your breath is one of the most-researched topics on the internet, and it’s something we can offer some pretty in-depth insight into.

Guinness World Records has been monitoring breath-holds for decades, and it’s pretty awe-inspiring when you take a look back at how much the record amount has grown.

Through employing various techniques and intense training, humans have dramatically increased the amount of time they can stay underwater without a breathing aid.

So let’s take a deep dive into these record titles and see how they’ve evolved over the years.

Longest time breath held voluntarily underwater (male)

We first recognized this record in March 1959 when Robert Foster (USA) stayed under the water in a swimming pool in California for 13 min 42.5 sec.

That record stood for a very long time, until 2006, when it was broken on the set of our shiny TV show Lo Show dei Record in Milan, Italy.

That January, Tom Sietas (Germany) held his breath underwater for 14 min 12 sec.

He then broke his record another three times on the set of various TV shows:

• June 2006 - 14 min 25 sec on El Show De Los Records in Madrid, Spain
• August 2007 – 15 min 2 sec on Live with Regis and Kelly in New York, USA
• November 2007 – 15 min 16 sec on Zheng Da Zong Yi - Guinness World Records Special in Beijing, China

Tom then briefly lost his record and it changed hands a lot over the following years, including falling into the hands of some famous faces.

Here’s the rundown:

• February 2008 - Peter Colat (Switzerland) – 16 min 32 sec
• February 2008 - Tom Sietas (Germany) – 16 min 13 sec
• April 2008 - David Blaine (USA) – 17 min 4.4 sec
• September 2008 - Tom Sietas (Germany) – 17 min 19 sec
• December 2008 - Tom Sietas (Germany) – 17 min 33 sec
• April 2009 - Nicola Putignano (Italy) – 19 min 2 sec
• February 2010 - Peter Colat (Switzerland) – 19 min 21 sec
• April 2010 - Stig Åvall Severinsen (Denmark) – 20 min 10 sec
• September 2010 - Ricardo da Gama Bahia (Brazil) – 20 min 48 sec
• September 2011 - Peter Colat (Switzerland) – 21 min 33 sec
• May 2012 - Stig Severinsen (Denmark) – 22 min
• February 2016 - Aleix Segura Vendrell (Spain) – 24 min 3.45 sec
• March 2022 - Budimir Šobat (Croatia) – 24 min 37.36 sec

After Budimir achieved this time, many thought the limit of what was possible had been reached.

But then came Vitomir Maričić (Croatia), who achieved a breath hold of 29 min 3 sec in June 2025.

Is this now the maximum that can be achieved? Or could someone one day break that 30-minute mark?

Vitomir said to Diver Net when he broke the iconic record: “After the 20-minute mark, everything became easier, at least mentally.”

His predecessor Budimir had said: “This record did not come by accident. I put all my effort in it. I was preparing myself for this record for more than three years. I have trained six days a week.”

Read about more amazing achievements like this in our Human Body section.

Longest time breath held voluntarily underwater (female)

There has been nowhere near this same level of competitiveness in the female record.

In fact, to date this record has had just one holder.

Karoline Mariechen Meyer (Brazil) claimed a time of 18 min 32.59 sec at the Racer Academy swimming pool, Florianopolis, Brazil, on 10 July 2009 and nobody has outdone her since.

Longest breath-hold on screen (principal actor)

British actress Kate Winslet made headlines in 2022 when she performed an impressive breath-hold while filming Avatar: The Way of Water.

While filming an underwater scene as Ronal, Kate held her breath for 7 min 15 sec.

And what about other activities being done underwater? Does that affect how long you can hold your breath?

How other records have evolved

Amber Bourke (Australia) currently holds the record for longest underwater walk with one breath (female) with a distance of 112.83 m (370 ft 2 in).

She claimed this record in Australia in 2024. It had first been broken in 2017 by Bilge Cingigiray Aydın (Türkiye) with 67.16 m (220.34 ft).

When it comes to the record for longest underwater walk with one breath (male), Stanisław Odbieżałek (Poland) is top dog with a stroll of 120.10 m (394 ft).

That record has grown from the 73.39 m (240 ft 9 in) achieved by Joseph Wilkie (USA) back in 2011.

Stanisław also holds the record for longest time breath held voluntarily under ice water (male). He managed 3 min 11 sec in 2025 and is the only person to ever break it.

Kamal Kaloi (India) is the only person to ever break the record for most underwater push ups with a single breath (male) with a total of 86 in October 2025.

And finally, Sebastian Górniak (Poland) is the only ever holder of the record for longest time breath held voluntarily underwater (male) (MP4). He clocked in a time of 5 min 41.9 sec in October 2025.

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.

So, the question is, how long can YOU hold your breath underwater?