Arrowtown architect Kathryn Nevatt was the only woman in a four-strong team that beat Australia at the three-day event in Auckland, which finished on Saturday.
The team also included former Queenstown resident Ant Williams, who now lives in Sydney.
Nevatt said she was happy with her performance after having a bad dose of the flu a fortnight ago, but her results had been well below her best.
The team's ``strength, experience, consistency'' made it hard to beat.
She took up the sport 12 years ago and ``got hooked'' after breaking world records. She is a former world champion in the static apnea discipline, where the diver lies face down on the surface of the water and holds their breath.
She has also taken part in open water depth competitions in the Bahamas and Egypt as well as New Zealand.
Last week's event was the largest competition of its type held in New Zealand, with four national and five club teams taking part.
Nevatt achieved the second-longest ``hold'' of the day in static apnea, at 7 minutes and 2 seconds.
Over the following two days she contested the dynamic without fins event - where divers swim breaststroke lengths of the pool underwater on one breath - and the dynamics discipline, where the diver wears a monofin to boost propulsion.
Nevatt moved to the Queenstown area a year ago, and was instrumental in establishing the Queenstown Freediving Club.
It has 15 fully paid-up members and another 30 casual members, who train at the Queenstown Events Centre pool as well as in Lake Wakatipu during the summer.
The club is running an introductory session tomorrow from 5.30pm for people interested in trying the sport.
Nevatt said those planning to attend should first get in touch through the club's Facebook page.
