Trubridge looked barely conscious when he emerged from the water in the Bahamas but recovered enough after a few minutes to speak.
Trubridge: "Sorry I couldn't bring it home"
He said he was disappointed at not reaching the goal.
"But at the same time I feel humbled by all the support that's come from New Zealand."
"Everyone's been really supportive and I'm really thankful for that and really sorry I wasn't able to bring it home this time."
He was not sure what had gone wrong.
"I've prepared a lot for this dive in the past few days.
"I've been visualising and really trying to relax and charge my batteries."
The freefall went well, but today he just was not capable of the attempt, Trubridge said.
The 34-year-old world champion and double world record-holding freediver, is the world's best free immersion diver, and also holds the record for the "constant weight without fins" discipline.
He said he would definitely attempt the dive again.
"This is just a plot twist. I will eventually attempt and get this record."
That might not happen during the current event, though, Trubridge said.
"We're doing another event next April, May here in the Bahamas, in the spring, so I'll probably have another crack at it then.
"For this event in the next couple of days I'll probably try to focus on the other two disciplines to try to win the overall prize if I can."
"I feel like I owe New Zealand a world record and when I do finally reach it then that will be dedicated to everyone who's watching this and everyone who's sent in their support," Trubridge said.
During the first half of the ascent he was feeling good, but at a certain point he was feeling like there was too much co2 and not enough oxygen, he said.
"At the depth where I signalled to the safety divers and grabbed the rope I felt like I definitely wasn't going to make it clean so it was better to let them help me up to the surface."
How freedivers do it
In the constant weight without fins dive, freedivers descend and ascend under water using only their own muscle strength. They have no propulsion equipment and cannot pull on a rope, according to international diving association AIDA.
Trubridge broke the world record in December 2010, reaching 101m.
On Sunday, Trubridge made a clean dive to 94m in 3 minutes and 42 seconds.
"Times and speeds were on target, and I was comfortable on surfacing," he wrote on his Facebook page, saying the 94m dive was an "icebreaker" he needed.
Trubridge has achieved wide support. All Black flanker Liam Messam sent Trubridge a message of support on YouTube, joking the freediver should bring him "a few kina" on the way up.
Trubridge's incredible feats
Trubridge set the current world record four years ago during Project Hector, an event aimed at raising awareness of the plight of the critically endangered Hector's and Maui's dolphin species.
Trubridge has broken various freediving world records 15 times.
He also founded the Vertical Blue school and annual freediving event on Long Island, Bahamas. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physiology and genetics.
On his personal website, the champion said he learned to swim at the age of 18 months, and was freediving to 15m by the time he was 8.
On the weekend a 93m dive attempt by Trubridge resulted in a blackout.
"I had a bad sequence of events - the weather was really cold and overcast, so I was shivering before the start of my dive, which uses oxygen, it's no good," Trubridge told TVNZ's Breakfast show.
Also, his tether was creating a lot of friction on his way down and rubbing against the rope.
"So that slowed me down."
Trubridge's wife and coach Britta said their life revolved around his training.
"From the moment we go to bed, we wake up in the morning, everything is very scheduled, very rigid."
