Twenty-five-year-old professional Aquabel Anita Alvarez lost consciousness during the championship finals in Budapest. As happened during a sports show, his limp body began to dive to the bottom of the pool.

The American was saved by his coach Andrea Fuentes, who brought him to the surface with the help of another man. “It felt like an hour to me. I said something was wrong, I screamed for the lifeguards to jump in the water but they either didn’t know what I was saying or they didn’t understand me… He wasn’t breathing. I ran as fast as I could, as if it was the Olympic final,” he says Fuentes after the incident for Spanish radio.

However, in a short time, the athlete managed to recover with the help of rescuers. In a statement on instagram, the coach later stated that the charges were “OK”. “Solo Anita was very good, it was her best performance, she tried to cross the line but in the end she found,” wrote the coach.

According to the coach, Akvabel will find regular “rest and recovery”. Doctors will then determine whether the athlete can qualify for the team category, which is scheduled for Friday.

This is not the first time Alvarez has fainted during a race. It happened last year in the qualifying race for the Olympics in Barcelona. Even in this case, he was saved by his coach Fuentes.

“Marathons, cycling, cross-country running… We all know the photos of athletes who can’t finish and others will help them… Our sport is no different from any other, only in the pool. We try to cross the border, but sometimes we find it,” the American team Akvabel said in a statement on Instagram.