After falling 10m short in 2014, Kiwi William Trubridge has come back to set a new freediving world record of 102m.

Trubridge plunged into the darkness of the world's deepest marine cavern, Dean's Blue Hole in the Bahamas, on Thursday morning (NZT) in an attempt to do what he couldn't just under two years ago.

﻿After being submerged for 4min 14s on a single breath, Trubridge surfaced and was reminded to breathe by officials before confirmation came through and the cheering began.

Kiwi William Trubridge reaches the 102m mark in his world record freedive in the Bahamas.

Trubridge reached a depth of 102m, beating his own world record set in 2010 by one metre.

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Speaking to TVNZ's Breakfast, Trubridge said it was a huge sense of relief to get the result.

"It's been over two years in the making and to finally get this record in the bag now is a dream. It's great."

He said the thought that he had it in the bag was "off-and-on" during the dive and said he felt a fade on the way back up.

"When I grabbed the tag at the bottom there was an initial kind of rush or surge of yeah I'm here at the depth and then that thought comes back to you - 'no I've still got to swim 102m back to the surface.

"On the way up I started to feel a little bit of a fade about halfway; the sense of an urge to breathe and hypoxia, low oxygen coming on, and I started to wonder whether it was going to go pear-shaped again.

"I just tried to kind of stay relaxed and focused and that sensation didn't get any worse, which is good, and all of a sudden I was kind of close to the surface and realised hey, I was going to be able to make this."

The world record is Trubridge's 18th and his third of the year having broken his own free immersion (rope assisted dive) record in April and again in May.

He said he planned to return to attempt a 103m unassisted dive in the future but, for now, it was time to celebrate.

"It's been such a long and hard road to get here that I just want to enjoy the achievement.

"I know I'll be back and training and eager for more but that's for the future. For now I'm just happy to bring this one home and be able to celebrate it with friends and family and the whole of New Zealand."

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