European Aquatics (LEN) has announced that they will be working alongside the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) to promote and develop the sport of ice swimming in Europe.
“At LEN, we see IISA Ice Swimming as an up-and-coming new swimming discipline,” LEN President Antonio Silva said in a press release on Friday, “and we are looking forward to further discussions with IISA about how best to develop ice swimming in Europe. This fits in with LEN’s strategy of encouraging more people to take part in our aquatic sports and supporting all disciplines across the continent.”
Ice swimming became an organized sport in 2009 when South African extreme swimmer Ram Barkai founded the IISA. The association defines the discipline as “swimming in water temperature of 5.0 degrees Celsius / 41.0 degrees Fahrenheit unassisted, with a silicon cap, pair of goggles, and standard swimming costume.” IISA hopes to make ice swimming a recognized Olympic winter sport.
The focus of LEN and the IISA’s efforts going forward “will be on organising events in Europe, promotion and building awareness of what is a fast-growing discipline of aquatics sport,” according to LEN’s press release. This announcement follows the 2023 IISA World Championships in Samoëns, France in January where a total of 467 athletes from 41 countries competed in open, age group, and para-swimming categories. It was the largest ice swimming competition in history and saw more than 20 world records fall.
Barkai expressed excitement and optimism about working with LEN in the press release, citing the governing body’s experience and resources. “And together with the IISA Ice Swimming Foundation of safety and specialist knowledge, we hope to take IISA to the next level…and expand its reach in research and education about Ice Swimming around the world,” he said.
While ice swimming is currently a European-dominated sport, swimmers from around the world have also risen to the elite level. Two of the top six countries on the 2023 World Championships medal table were not European: the United States and South Africa.
courtesy of IISA
The 2023-2024 IISA calendar is already stacked with 10 more events across New Zealand, The Netherlands, Great Britain, Austria, Morocco, and Germany. The next competition will be the Ice Division Open Water Championships in June in Lake Lyndon, New Zealand.
With the next Winter Olympic Games three years away, in 2026, support from LEN could help the IISA get closer to their goal of establishing ice swimming as a Winter Olympic sport.
One of the major challenges of organizing the sport seems to be its medical safety as ice swimmers are at risk of hypothermia and thermal shock-induced breathing trouble during the competition. The IISA has taken many measures to limit these risks including requiring pre and post-race medical assessments, placing a time limit on longer events, and having medical staff on-site. As of December 2020, about 11 years since the founding of the sport, two deaths have been reported during ice swimming competitions.
Full LEN Press Release:
LEN TO WORK WITH THE INTERNATIONAL ICE SWIMMING ASSOCIATION TO DEVELOP ICE SWIMMING IN EUROPE
The European Aquatics Federation (LEN) and the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) are proud to announce that they will be working together to promote the sport of Ice Swimming in Europe.
Based on the experience of a successful and professionally delivered 5th edition of the IISA World Championships of Ice Swimming in Samoëns, France on 11-15 January 2023, both parties are keen to begin work closely together to ensure further development of the discipline of ice swimming in Europe.
The focus will be on organising events in Europe, promotion and building awareness of what is a fast-growing discipline of aquatics sport.
IISA President Ram Barkai said: “The International Ice Swimming Association is delighted to announce that following positive discussions with LEN European Aquatics we have agreed to further grow Ice Swimming as a sport in Europe.
LEN has vast experience and resources and together with the IISA Ice Swimming Foundation of safety and specialist knowledge, we hope to take IISA to the next level. IISA is committed to continuing to grow Ice Swimming in its three categories of Open, Age-Group and Para and expand its reach in research and education about Ice Swimming around the world”.
LEN President Antonio Silva said: “LEN wants to acknowledge the great efforts of IISA President Ram Barkai, the board, and the Ice Swimming Community around the world to bring the discipline of ice swimming to such a high standard. At LEN, we see IISA Ice Swimming as an up-and-coming new swimming discipline and we are looking forward to further discussions with IISA about how best to develop ice swimming in Europe. This fits in with LEN’s strategy of encouraging more people to take part in our aquatic sports and supporting all disciplines across the continent.”
I competed in Vermont for ice swimming.
I hope ice swimming expands further. It’s a fun event, if done safely and can be exciting!
What’s wrong with swimming in the water of normal temperature? Putting yourself under extreme survival conditions has nothing to do with swimming. It’s a pleasure of different sort. Maybe such exercises help people to appreciate more the value of normal life. I don’t know, but I’m afraid that next step would be bathing in the water close to the boiling point but also calling it a swimming. And actually something similar exists already in form of sauna competition.
I actually knew the person who swam in the very cold water of lake Baikal for about one hour long.But he was a freak of nature with normal body temperature about 1.2C above average.
Swimmers are crazy.
I mean…. swimming at the Winter Olympics? I’m all for that. I won’t try out for it, but I’ll be watching.
Wim Hof will be so jazzed to hear this!
I’d love to see some form of swimming in the Winter Olympics.
So do you need to cool down after races?
So, that’s a thing.