Biography
 

UMBERTO PELIZZARI was born on 28th August 1965 in Busto Arsizio, in the province of Varese. He is 1.89 meters tall and weighs 84 kg, and his lung capacity is 7.9 liters. By the age of 5 he can already swim perfectly and by the age of 17 he already had 11 seasons of swimming behind him at a professional level.

In 1984 he begins to dedicate himself to apnoea.

He reaches his first world record in 1988 when, with 5'33", he establishes the record in apnoea without moving.

Having become a member of the NO LIMITS SECTOR Team, on 19th May 1990 - in the public pool of Busto Arsizio - he breaks the world record of apnoea without moving, beating the previous record of 5'50" established by the French Philippe Goasse with 6'03".

On 12th July 1990 he takes a degree in Information Science at the University of Milan. In the meantime he has started training, with the goal of breaking the world record on the Isle of Elba. On 10th November, the same year, at Porto Azzurro, Umberto amazes everybody by reaching a new world record of immersion in apnoea in constant weight reaching a depth of 65 meters, though he has just started to participate in this difficult discipline. He beat by 3 meters the record established by Pipin Ferreras only two months before. In Hawaii, on 9th July 1991, he reclaims the world record in apnoea without moving with 7'02"88, smashing the old record of 6'40" held by the French Michael Bader.

Only 2 months later, in September, on the Isle of Elba he conquers all the records of immersion in apnoea. The 3rd October sees him descend in constant weight to a depth of 67 meters improving by 2 meters his previous record. On 22nd October Umberto reaches a world record of immersion in apnoea in variable weight reaching -95 meters, improving the record established by Pipin in September 1990 in Milazzo, by 3 meters.

On 26th October, he obtains his third world triumph in a month beating the absolute record in immersion in apnoea, with -118 meters (but in 1992 this record is broken with -120 meters by a Cuban rival).

On 17th September 1992 in Ustica, Umberto reclaims the world record in immersion in apnoea in constant weight with -70 meters, which he has lost to Pipin on 27th May.

On 11th October 1993, off-shore of Montecristo, he establishes a new record in "no limits" variable weight descending to a depth of 123 meters. Umberto holds this record only till 14th of the next month, when in Grand Bahama, Pipin improves on it with -125 meters.
On 26th October, he obtains his third world triumph in a month beating the absolute record in immersion in apnoea, with -118 meters (but in 1992 this record is broken with -120 meters by a Cuban rival).

On 17th September 1992 in Ustica, Umberto reclaims the world record in immersion in apnoea in constant weight with -70 meters, which he has lost to Pipin on 27th May.

On 11th October 1993, off-shore of Montecristo, he establishes a new record in "no limits" variable weight descending to a depth of 123 meters. Umberto holds this record only till 14th of the next month, when in Grand Bahama, Pipin improves on it with -125 meters.

On 24th July 1994, at Cala Gonone-Dorgali, in Sardegna, Umberto reaches his new world record in immersion in apnea in the Variable Ballast discipline descending to a depth of 101 meters.

In July 1995, at Villasimius in Sardegna, he claims two new world records: -72 meters in constant weight (16th July) and -105 meters in variable weight (only to see Gianluca Genoni break his record by only a meter on 17th August 1996).

In 1996, again in Villasimius, he reaches once more a double world record: on 9th September with -110 meters he takes the world record again in variable weight and on 16th of the same month, with -131 meters, takes away Pipin's record in "no limits" variable weight.

On 13th September 1997, at Porto Venere in Liguria he again conquers the world record in constant weight with a depth of 75 meters, beating the Cuban Alessandro Ravelo at -73 meters. On 20th September against the same Cuban competitor, Umberto wins the record in variable descending to 115 meters.

In 1999, Umberto Pelizzari again holds all records in Free-diving in the world.

On the 18th of October 1999, during the Genoa Boat Show, four miles away from the Cape of Portofino, Umberto establishes a new world record in the discipline of Constant Weight, with a dive of 80 meters. This record improves by 4 meters the record set by the Cuban Alejandro Ravelo in August 1998 in Sicily.

On 24th of October 1999, with the technical support of Nave Anteo (a 97 meters long boat of the Italian Navy), Umberto makes history with a dive to a depth which was considered impossible for man by underwater medicine.
He descends to 150 meters in the discipline of No Limits Variable Weight. After a dive of 2'57", he is again the Man with the Deepest Dive in the World.

In 2000 Umberto Pelizzari was involved in the making of the film OceanMen, produced by IMAX (2D), which tells the story of two great free-divers: Umberto and Pipin.

In October 2001 the Italian National Team comprising Umberto Pelizzari, Davide Carrera and Gaspare Battaglia won the gold medal at the Free-diving World Championship by Team held in the Club Med resort in Ibiza.
Once again in October, Mursia (Biblioteca del Mare) published the first free-diving illustrated manual, written by Umberto and Stefano Tovaglieri.

2001 is a magical year for Umberto; on the 3rd of November in the waters of Capri, he established a new free-diving World Record in Variable Weight.
The athlete dived to 131 meters and went back in 2'44", beating Genoni's record by 5 meters.

This is a great performance, considering that in 1996 Pelizzari ascended to the surface from the depth of 131 meters with balloons during the No Limits World Record.

Umberto dedicated this record to everyone who has supported him these past 11 years and ... in glory he retires from official individual competitions.