At the recent Tyumen Open Winter Swimming Cup in Siberia, Russia in water just above its freezing point – 0.8ºC (33.4ºF) – elite ice swimmer Henri Kaarma of Estonia channeled his inner strengths – both physical and mental – to do what appeared to be the impossible.

The 39-year-old Estonian, nicknamed the Iceman, makes his achievement sound so doable, realistic almost.

“I train mostly in the pool and 2-3 times per week in cold water, too. But I do longer swims in cold water only once per 1 or 2 weeks. I have been swimming in cold water for 6 years. But I did the first 1 km cold swim in 3 years ago. It was close to my limit then. My cold tolerance has definitely improved since then. My body ‘remembers’ previous swims and can do more next time.”

What a memory…at 0.8ºC, Kaarma swam 2,400 meters – 1.49 miles in water almost ready to freeze – in 41 minutes 57 seconds.

He explains how he did it. “In the start, I was trying not to go too fast and to stay calm despite initial feeling of cold. During the distance, I just tried to do a controlled swim, to be as economical as possible. I looked ahead after 20 strokes to check how far is the wall and which hand will touch the wall. Also, I remember overtaking Zdeněk by 50 meters for every 250 meters. Closer to the end, I noticed my stroke was getting shorter and it was hard to keep track how much have I already swum. I saw a bunch of people walking with me from one end to another and heard cheering during turns so I concluded that the distance must be pretty solid. I remember someone grabbing my hand, but I thought that it’s too early for stopping and I can swim more. 50 meters later, I thought that will do for today, climbed up the ladder and men carried me to the sauna.”

Scenes from the Tyumen Open Water Swimming Cup including Kaarma’s mind-boggling achievement are shown below:

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