On Day 2 of the IISA 6th World Championship in Molveno, Italy, eyes were on the middle of the pool where English Channel and Molokai Channel record holder 38-year-old German Andreas Waschburger (@andreaswaschburger) faced off against 250m specialist and current world record holder Andrei Enache (@andreiienachee) from Romania.

Enache established a fast pace and won the 250m freestyle by a comfortable margin over the pair of older swimmers behind him, 38-year-old Waschburger and 31-year-old Reino von Wielligh of South Africa. The South African set an age group world record in capturing third while Enache was just off his world record.

At the IISA 5th World Championship in Samoëns, Enache finished second in 2:38.27, but these last 12 months, he has been dominant including his fastest swim of 2:35.94 in the IISA 1st European Championship in 4.07°C water. He came into Molveno as the race favorite – and did not disappoint the crowd.

500m Men’s Freestyle Top 10 Results

1. Andrei Enache (Romania, 19, IISA bio here) 2:36.36
2. Andreas Waschburger (Germany, 38, IISA bio here) 2:43.30
3. Reino von Wielligh (South Africa, 31, IISA bio here) 2:45.06
4. Michal Tomaszowski (Poland, IISA bio here) 2:50.07
5. Jakub Kacerovsky (Czech Republic, 23, IISA bio here) 2:54.16
6. Rostislav Vítek (Czech Republic, 49, IISA bio here) 2:55.91
7. Quinn Boyle (New Zealand, 19, IISA bio here) 2:56.01
8. Virgile Poirier (France, 24, IISA bio here) 2:56.83
9. Lorenzo Innocenti (Italy, IISA bio here) 3:00.55
10. Stephen Rouch (USA, 41, IISA bio here) 3:03.40

n the preliminary heats, the following age group world records were set:

• Scott Lautman (USA, 72, IISA bio here) 5:21.96
• Rory Fitzgerald (Great Britain, 66, IISA bio here) 3:19.59
• Reino von Wielligh (South Africa, 31, IISA bio here) 2:45.06

Watch the live coverage of the IISA 6th World Championship on Daily Motion here, organized by Ice Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer  Paolo Chiarino (@paolochiarino).

To say it is cold is clearly an understatement with the night air temperature at -1.1°C and the fresh water in the pool between 1.8°C and 2.0°C where the ice shards need to be removed from the pool before the 754 swimmers can compete.

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