Croatia’s Human Dolphin: Vitomir Maričić Holds Breath for 29 Minutes Straight

For most of us, holding our breath is a parlor trick. Thirty seconds in, we’re fidgeting. One minute in, we’re bargaining with God. At ninety seconds, we’re positive this is how we go out. But Croatian freediver Vitomir Maričić just redefined “taking a deep breath” by casually holding his for 29 minutes and 3 seconds—a Guinness World Record that left the rest of the planet gasping.

The record-setting attempt went down at the Bristol Hotel in Opatija, Croatia, in a pool just three meters deep but packed with drama. Five official judges, a hundred spectators, and one man whose lungs apparently came pre-installed with an upgrade. The feat shattered the previous mark by nearly five minutes, proving once and for all that some people are built different.

Maričić didn’t just beat humans—he embarrassed half the ocean. His time doubled the breath-holding ability of bottlenose dolphins and crept into harbor seal territory. For context, elite freedivers without oxygen training max out around 10 or 11 minutes. The average person? A pathetic 30 to 90 seconds—basically the length of an awkward elevator ride.

Of course, there’s a method to this madness. Maričić spent ten minutes breathing pure oxygen beforehand, a technique called denitrogenation. It essentially “supercharges” the bloodstream, flushing out nitrogen and letting him stockpile nearly five times more oxygen than normal. Guinness allows it, though it still requires unshakable mental control and the ability to ignore every instinct screaming, “Please breathe.”

So while the rest of us struggle to make it through one verse of karaoke without sucking wind, Maričić is casually rivaling marine mammals. The man isn’t just a freediver—he’s a reminder that sometimes, humans can leave dolphins speechless.