Alice Modolo, born October 23^rd, 1984 in Clermont-Ferrand, is a French freediver, dental surgeon, underwater model and speaker in French.

Three times winner of the France Cup in dynamic apnea (DYN), four-time champion of France in constant weight (CWT), vice-champion of the world team in 2012, winner of the European Cup in 2020 ; She has 20 records to her credit in France.

She is the first French woman to reach -100 m in constant weight (monofin)7 and holds the women's world record in constant weight bi-fins, at 96 meters.

Born in 1984 in Clermont-Ferrand1 of parents whom were dentists. Modolo obtained a scientific baccalaureate degree in 2002 and enrolled in medical school and oriented her studies towards becoming a dental surgeon.

She graduated as a doctor of dental surgery from the Faculty of Dentistry of Clermont-Ferrand in 2009. She completed her training thereafter to specialize in pedodontics and since 2018, she has been working as an exclusive pedodontist.

Alice Modolo was 13 years old when she started her sports career -ache acompanied her older sister to the swimming pool of Issoire to, like her, learn to go scuba diving and pass her first level exam.

She tried apnea for the first time in 2007, and became passionate about dynamic apnea (DYN) - a discipline which consists for the freediver to swim underwater the longest possible distance without time limit, in a monofin.

A few weeks later, in her first competition, she reached 100 meters. She finished the 2007 season in the 120 metres and won the Coupe de France.

In 2009, she discovered the discipline of constant weight, which became her favorite discipline. From 2008 to 2013, she achieved several titles and French records (see complete list of achievements), including a vice-world team championship title in 2012.

At the end of the 2013 season, she set three French records with 185 meter dive in dynamic apnea (DYN), -71 m in free immersion (FIM) and -81 m 10 in a constant weight (CWT) monofin dive.

It was also in 2013 that Alice Modolo decided to settle in Nice to be closer to the sea . She expects to be able to develop her activity as a dental surgeon while training for the highest levels.

After a successful 2013 season, she moved away from freediving to devote herself to her profession as a dentist.

She specializes in pedodontics and secured a university degree in Paris alternating her activity as a general practitioner in Valbonne.

Modolo takes over freediving as a model for the Kusmi Tea brand and the music video directed by Charlie Robins and Julie Gautier for the song Runnin' (Lose it all) by Naughty Boy feat Beyoncé Knowles.

In 2018, Alice Modolo reaches -88 meters in constant monofin weight. She obtained a title of France champion, five France records, and a 4^thplace at the world championships in constant bi-fins.

In January 2019, she suspended her career as a dentist to devote herself solely to freediving competitions. Her goal: to be the first French to reach -100 meters deep in constant weight.

In August 2019, at the Caribbean Cup competition in Roatán, Honduras, she wanted to improve her best performance of 12 meters to reach her goal of 100 meters in constant monofin weight.

On August 3, she validates -92 m, which is a record of France15. On 5 August, she reached -95 m, a new French record.

On August 8, she descended to -100 m, but fainted for the first time when climbing 10 meters from the surface, which automatically invalidated her performance, in accordance with the safety rules provided for in the regulations of apnea competitions.

On September 11^th, 2019, she finished the season in the colder waters of Villefranche-sur-Mer and placed 4^th at the World Championships in constant weight monofin.

She does not resume her career as a dentist, and continues to devote herself to freediving competitions in order to reach -100 m.

On July 24^th, 2021, she reached -100 m in constant monofin weight at the Vertical Blue in the Bahamas and she breaks the women's world record in constant weight bi-fins by diving to 95 meters deep.

She broke her own record in constant weight bi-fins the following year, reaching 96 meters deep in August 2022 at the Vertical Blue.

Alice Modolo gives public lectures and offers personal development seminars. Beginning in 2018 she is ambassador of the Gregory Lemarchal association.

The successive waves of life can often drag us to shores that we would not suspect beforehand.

A sentence that sums up Alice Modolo's destiny. If she is to become a world reference in freediving, she may owe it to a video shot for American superstar, Beyoncé Knowles.

The most beautiful life stories are the ones that last. They are also those that are born on a thunderbolt and those that make you realize all the possible madness.

Like dropping everything overnight to follow your heart. Between freediving and Alice Modolo, there is certainly all this. The young woman discovered the discipline in 2007, quite by chance, in the pools of the Coubertin pool in Clermont-Ferrand.

Since then, the Auvergne mermaid has not let go of this sport that has become a reason for her to live. And when she wanted to take a little distance, the freediving always came back.

With most unforgettable life experiences - like this time when thanks to the calls of the depths, the Clermontoise ended up being the main protagonist of a video of the American singer Beyoncé.

"I really like these signs sent to us by life. The more unlikely the sign it is, the more likely I am to go..."

It was 2015. Alice Modolo had left Clermont-Ferrand a few months ago to find better training conditions in Nice. But reason eventually caught up with her.

The Auvergnate decided to devote herself to her professional career as a dental surgeon. But at that time, she did not think that freediving would return to her in a surprising and therefore unexpected form.

A London director was looking for a practitioner with well-defined criteria to turn in the video of the English artist Naughty Boy.

And in this relatively confidential environment, potential candidates are not always all that numerous.

Beyoncé and Naughty Boy's "Runnin" music video is oine of rare beauty. But it was far from easy for Alice Modolo.

"This director wanted to shoot a music video entirely underwater. He was looking for a blonde woman for this.

As I had already participated in an artistic project for an internationally known tea brand, they immediately approached me. So, when I accpted the adventure - the project was launched very quickly," recalls Alice Modolo.

In the space of a few weeks, the girl from Clermont-Ferrand finds herself in Polynesia on tour with Guillaume Néry, four-time world record holder in freediving. A decision taken on a whim but which will turn his life completely upside down.

"I had stopped competing and I did not expect at all to be surprised by these projects. For me it was a beautiful message. Freediving was not going to let me go like that and I had to go back."

"Thanks to such artistic initiatives, I have kept one foot in the discipline. If I hadn't had this video shoot, maybe I wouldn't have come back to competitions.

So, during four days of work in a heavenly place, Alice Modolo was to experience a completely different approach to the discipline.

There is no longer any question of descending deep along a cable. It's to be even more exhausting."

"Alice is dressed as if in the city and the artistic needs are very specific. 'It was absolutely exhausting. In principle in the freedive, we are alone with ourselves.

In an artistic project, we no longer listen to our feelings because we are asked for things at a specific time and in a certain manner. We also had to look for and find the current in Polynesian waters.' "

"The movements we make in the video are impossible without the water's current. I found myself dressed for the street, my head upside down, my sinuses immersed in seawater - whereas two days before, I was treating patients in my dental chair."

After seeing the underwater video Beyoncé falls in love with the video images. This is the slightly more difficult part of the story because the rest is pure magic.

Shot during June, Naughty Boy's "Runnin'" music video was to be released by the following July. But weeks pass and Alice Modolo sees nothing coming.

Initially, the song was absolutely not intended for a possible duet. And especially not with Beyoncé - one of the biggest stars on the planet.

But the shots are so sublime, the performance of Guillaume Néry and Alice Modolo so full of poetry, that the British artist felt obliged to show the clip to his friend, the American diva.

Beyoncé then falls completely under the spell of the underwater images and expresses the wish to put her voice together with the images. Without ever wanting to put herself forward as she has been customary on her other video titles.

One more surprise for the Auvergne freediver. "That Beyoncé wanted to keep only those images was a very nice gift and a nice proof that she loved the video. We knew that she had been totally stunned by the images.

Again, only two days before, I was treating patients in my dental chair...

A few years later, and even if the music icon had never contacted her, it remains a film of great beauty, evoking memories for life and a philosophy that still resonates today as obvious.

"I didn't really measure it. But I took that as a real sign. It is extraordinary how life likes to give us signs to tell us that we are on our way."

"I would never have imagined that I, a little Auvergne girl born in the middle of volcanoes, would have found myself portraying myself as a mermaid in the video of an American superstar."

"I really like these signs of life. The more unlikely they are - the more I go with them. The more I am afraid - the more I go along with them."

An extraordinary destiny for a young woman who has always liked to surpass herself and to trust the signs sent by life.

Besides, the lyrics of the song do not lie. "If I lose myself, I lose everything" is in it's own way the mantra that has allowed Alice Modolo to become today a world reference in freediving . And Beyoncé is no longer so foreign to it."

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