Setting a world record in diving depth requires years of preparation, an excellent team, thoughtful planning, and significant support. However, in the end, everything depends on one person who is completely alone down there. The enormity of this challenge, both in terms of skill and mental resilience, is evidenced by the fact that divers who have descended to depths exceeding 300 meters can be counted on the fingers of one hand. It is also important to remember those who have lost their lives attempting to achieve this.

Ahmed Gabr began preparing for his record-breaking deep dive many years earlier. The dive to a depth of 332.35 meters was the culmination of four years of preparation and training, both underwater and on the surface. His goal was not only to set a sporting record but also to promote Egypt as a diving location through the publicity of the endeavor and to show Egyptians that through determination, they can achieve success on an international scale.

The record dive was scheduled for September 18, 2014, in the Red Sea, in the town of Dahab. Every detail of the project was carefully thought out and planned. The decompression plan and choice of gases were prepared in collaboration with specialists in diving physiology, and the support team consisted of a group of very experienced technical divers. An international judge from the Guinness Book of Records was also present on-site.

Descending to the depth of 332.35 meters was relatively quick, and within 15 minutes Ahmed reached the maximum depth, then began his ascent. The decompression plan involved stops with a total duration of over 13 hours and the use of several dozen tanks of gases of different compositions, so the support team had to ensure that Ahmed Gabr always had what he needed. The support divers accompanied him from a depth of over 150 meters to the surface. Later, Ahmed was taken over by the surface support team, which included doctors, among others. Despite immense exhaustion, Ahmed felt great.

The deep part of the dive was carried out using backmount configuration (twinset + stage tanks), but to the surprise of many, the plan included a change of the gear to the STEALTH 2.0 sidemount system during the decompression. This was intended to reduce the physical burden on Ahmed and allow him to adopt a more comfortable position and relax his muscles during the hours-long decompression. Although the operation of changing the configuration introduced additional risk, the team concluded that the benefits of better muscle blood circulation during decompression outweighed the risks.

The dive ended in complete success, and Ahmed Gabr set a new record for open-circuit diving depth at 332.35 meters. This would not have been possible without the cooperation of the entire support team, totaling several dozen people. It was a multi-month effort prior to the attempt, as well as many hours directly before and during the attempt itself.