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Sportshour: “At some point you start sinking like a rock” – Alenka Artnik

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“At some point you start sinking like a rock” – Alenka Artnik

05/12/2020 GMT

BBC World Service - Sportshour, “At some point you start sinking like a rock” – Alenka Artnik

Alenka Artnik set a new world record by freediving 374 feet below the Red Sea surface

Slovenia’s Alenka Artnik joins us after she set a new world record in freediving by descending 374 feet below the surface of the Red Sea. Just off the coast of Egypt, she secured a four-pound weight around her neck and fastened herself to a thin line before holding her breath and going for the record. Artnik tells us about the pressures on her body, how a traumatic past led her to try freediving and how seeing a vision of her dead brother on a previous dive helped her come to terms with his passing.

USA striker Jessica McDonald tells us about the challenges she has faced in balancing her sporting career with motherhood as FIFA prepare to bring in new maternity cover regulations.  McDonald was the only mother in the USA’s World Cup winning squad in 2019. The North Carolina Courage player tells us she’s had coaches in the past who have used her son as a reason to criticise her when she’s had a bad game and that she knows plenty of players who have given up on football in order to start a family.

The coach of the PNG Hunters – Matthew Church – explains how the coronavirus pandemic means they’re relocating from Papua New Guinea to Australia for the 2021 season. The Rugby League side play in the Queensland League and usually travel between Port Moresby and Australia for matches.

Chris Nikic became the first person with Down's syndrome to finish an Ironman event - swimming 2.4 miles, cycling 112 miles and running a 26.2-mile marathon in Florida last month. In Ironman's 42-year history, no athlete with Down's syndrome - a genetic condition that can cause varying degrees of learning disability and slower physical development – had ever attempted an event, let alone finished one. Chris and his father Nick reflect on the achievement and Chris says he's targeting Ironman Hawaii next. 

In Sporting Witness – we tell the story of Learie Constantine, who became the first West Indian cricketer to sign a professional contract in England. Whilst being a star, Learie helped improve race relations in Britain and later became the first black person to be awarded a peerage. 

And the BBC’s Juliette Ferrington joins us from Turf Moor ahead of the early kick-off in the Premier League between Burnley and Everton.

Photo: Alenka Artnik freediving

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