The Man Who Held His Breath for 24 Minutes

Sean Williams’s profile of Budimir Šobat, a 60-year-old freediver from Croatia who sucks down pure oxygen to hold his breath for the length of a network television episode, is a complex profile told simply, often in his subject’s own brusque adages. Šobat’s chosen practice is a project of a personal stubbornness that borders on obsession; here, Williams locates the seed of that stubbornness in Saša, Šobat’s daughter, whose medical care requires an intensive commitment from her parents. Williams threads his story with details about niche breath-holding competitions and cultural histories of freediving, but nothing is so captivating as the persistence of Šobat, whose doggedness pushes him beyond his own grim outlook.

Šobat slimmed way down and trained five days a week at Utrina. But he didn’t have a coherent plan to calm his mind. Static isn’t like other forms of freediving. You’re not working at depth: you have only to lift your head an inch, and the pain is over. You’re not fighting the water; you’re fighting yourself.

First, Šobat tried to calm himself actively, to think himself into sleep mode. But it didn’t work. His mind would always wander to Saša—whether they had the money to pay for her therapy, what they’d buy her, or when they could take her to the sea—and it jolted his heart rate. Then he tried thinking about sex. Same problem.

Yoga was a nonstarter. Nothing seemed to work. And then it hit him. He’d been getting himself into that state for over a decade with Saša. Waiting for her to acknowledge a question, craving a conversation with her, or a hug; for her to live in his world, for once. It was love, but it was suffering, too. In those moments with Saša, Šobat says, “I’m completely out of my body. I’m looking at myself from outside.”