American freediver’s incredible lung capacity leads her to two underwater records

Amelia de los Rios (USA) can be considered a real-life mermaid.  

As a professional freediver, Amelia has incredible lung capacity and is used to spending lengthy amounts of time underwater. She decided to highlight some of her skills by breaking the Guinness World Records title for most air rings blown underwater in a minute.  

Amelia told us that there's a particular technique she uses to blow air rings.  

“All you do is you put some pressure in your cheeks, and you stick your tongue out, and you suck it back in,” she explains.   

The act of forming the air ring itself isn’t hard, she says, but doing it at the right depth and rhythm is tricky.  

“The shallower you go, the easier it is,” she says. “[But] if you’re too shallow, the bubbles will break each other up.” 

The underwater record breaker owes a lot of her technique to her freediving skills. Freediving is essentially a breath holding sport that can range from leisurely activities like snorkelling to competitive underwater timing.  

Practising air rings was a part of Amelia’s freediving training. In June 2024, she also broke a US Freediving Federation national record in Static for under 50 years of age.  

Static, or static apnea, is a type of training in which the diver floats on water and holds their breath for as long as possible without moving. Amelia held her breath for 6 minutes and 58 seconds, 12 seconds more than the men’s record.  

While she has multiple freediving and breath holding related accolades in her name, Amelia tells us that she wasn’t the most athletic growing up.  

“I was a kid that failed physical education several times and was never picked for any teams,” she says.  

Freediving and competitive breath holding came to her rather unexpectedly.  

“And then suddenly, I found my superpower...  holding my breath for diving or making bubble rings.” 

Amelia broke her record by blowing 56 air rings in a minute, and in doing so she also broke the record for most air rings blown underwater (without a time limit). She blew a total of 81 air rings without a time limit, nine more than the previous record holder. 

In addition to Amelia’s records, there are more than 50 freediving-related Guinness World Records titles that exist. These include the first accredited mermaid course launched in 2020 and the most consecutive bench presses underwater.