Şahika Ercümen (born 16 January 1985) is a Turkish

dietitian A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ca ...

and world record holder

free-diver Freediving, free-diving, free diving, breath-hold diving, or skin diving is a form of underwater diving that relies on breath-holding until resurfacing rather than the use of breathing apparatus such as scuba gear. Besides the limits of breath- ...

. Born on January 16, 1985, in

Çanakkale Çanakkale (pronounced ), ancient ''Dardanellia'' (), is a city and seaport in Turkey in Çanakkale province on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the city is 195,439 (2021 estimate). Çanakkale is ...

, she was educated at the Gazi Primary School, and received a secondary education at the Milli Piyango

Anatolian High School Anatolian High School, or Anadolu High School ( tr, Anadolu Lisesi), refers to public high schools in Turkey that admit their students according to high nationwide standardized test (LGS) scores, though this is not required for entering all Anato ...

in her hometown. For her higher education, she moved to

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, and became a dietitian graduating from the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Başkent University's Faculty of Health Sciences. Her participation in

underwater sports Underwater sports is a group of competitive sports using one or a combination of the following underwater diving techniques - breath-hold, snorkelling or scuba, usually including the use of equipment such as diving masks and fins. These sport ...

began with

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

and

underwater rugby Underwater rugby (UWR) is an underwater team sport. During a match two teams try to score a negatively buoyant ball (filled with saltwater) into the opponents’ goal at the bottom of a swimming pool. It originated from within the physical ...

. For twelve years, she is interested in various branches of underwater sports, and is a member of four national teams since 2001. She participated with the

underwater hockey Underwater hockey (UWH), (also known as Octopush in the United Kingdom) is a globally played limited-contact sport in which two teams compete to manoeuvre a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool into the opposing team's goal by propelling ...

underwater orienteering Underwater orienteering is an underwater sport that uses recreational open circuit scuba diving equipment and consists of a set of individual and team events conducted in both sheltered and open water testing the competitors' competency in underw ...

and free diving national teams in the World and European Championships.

Achievements

Her long

dynamic apnea Dynamic apnea is a discipline of competitive freediving, also known as competitive apnea. Dynamic apnea covers two of the eight competitive freediving categories recognised by the AIDA International (International Association for Development of A ...

under ice (DYN) that was achieved on February 11, 2011, in Lake Weissensee,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, found entry into the '' Guinness Book of World Records'' for both for men and women. Former records were for women and for men. Şahika Ercümen is former world record holder of constant weight with fins at sea (CWT) discipline with set in

Dahab Dahab ( arz, دهب, , "gold") is a small Egyptian town on the southeast coast of the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, approximately northeast of Sharm el-Sheikh. Formerly a Bedouin fishing village, Dahab is now considered to be one of Egypt's most tre ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

on November 10, 2011 (recognized by CMAS). The former record belonged to Tanya Streeter with . The same day at the same place, she set another CMAS-recognized world record diving deep in variable weight apnea without fins at sea (VNF). On June 1, 2013, she broke her own world record diving in the VNF discipline to a depth of in saline

soda water Carbonated water (also known as soda water, sparkling water, fizzy water, club soda, water with gas, in many places as mineral water, or especially in the United States as seltzer or seltzer water) is water containing dissolved carbon dioxide gas, ...

s of

Lake Van Lake Van ( tr, Van Gölü; hy, Վանա լիճ, translit=Vana lič̣; ku, Gola Wanê) is the largest lake in Turkey. It lies in the far east of Turkey, in the provinces of Van and Bitlis in the Armenian highlands. It is a saline soda lake ...

, eastern Turkey (recognized by CMAS). She stated that she preferred the site for her world-record free-diving attempt because she wanted to call world's attention to the migration of Pearl Mullet (Chalcalburnus tarichi), also called Lake Van fish. She set a new free-diving world record in the VNF discipline reaching the depth mark in 2:49 minutes at Kaş, Antalya, southern Turkey on July 23, 2014. Former record in this discipline, which was set the previous year, belonged to Derya Can, another Turkish diver. On October 22, 2016, Ercümen set a new world record off Kaş, Turkey diving to a depth of in the variable weight apnea with fins at sea (VWT) discipline in 2:44 minutes. Her record was recognized by CMAS officials at site. She set a new CMAS world record for women diving in sweet water of

Lake Salda Lake Salda is a mid-size crater lake in southwestern Turkey, within the boundaries of Yeşilova district of Burdur Province. It lies at a distance of about fifty kilometers to the west from the province seat Burdur. Lake Salda is often included ...

in Yeşilova,

Burdur Province Burdur Province ( tr, ) is a province of Turkey, located in the southwest and bordering Muğla and Antalya to the south, Denizli to the west, Afyon to the north, and Isparta to the east. It has an area of 6,887 km2 and a population of 258, ...

, Turkey to in 1:58 minutes. The previous world record was at . On 26 October 2021, she set a new world record in variable weight apnea without fins at sea (VNF) category at Kaş, Antalya, Turkey with , which is valid for women and men.

World records

; DYN under ice * - February 11, 2011 in Lake Weissensee, Austria ;CWT * - November 10, 2011 in

, Egypt ;VNF * - November 10, 2011 in

, Egypt * - June 1, 2013 in

, Turkey * - July 23, 2014 in Kaş, Antalya, Turkey * - October 26, 2021 in Kaş, Antalya, Turkey ;VWT * - October 22, 2016 in Kaş, Antalya, Turkey ; Fresh water * - October 26, 2018 in

, Yeşilova, Burdur, Turkey

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ercumen, Sahika Living people 1985 births Turkish freedivers Turkish sportswomen Sportspeople from Çanakkale Başkent University alumni Dietitians