Germany Alisa Fatum is one of the legends of the ice swimming world – and she keeps getting better.

The 29-year-old Queen of the Ice from Leipzig, Germany won the 500m freestyle title while resetting her own world standard in the 500m freestyle with an outstanding 6:07.32 on Day One at the 2024 IISA 1st European Championship in Oradea, Romania. She broke her old record of 6:10.87 set at the 5th World Championship – Samoens, France in January 2023.

The field is getting faster in general. For example, 49-year-old Czech swimmer Sarka Landsmannov swam a 6:38.44 in the 500m, nearly 12 seconds faster than her 6:50:36 swum in February 2022 at the 5th IISA World Championships.

Women’s 500m Freestyle Results

1. Alisa Fatum (29) 6:07.32
2. Sarka Landsmannova (49) 6:38.44
3. Tiffany Pierrejean (21) 6:47.37
4. Laura Nesbitt (31) 6:53.17
5. Katie Irving (32) 6:55.08
6. Julie Broeggler (31) 7:26.10
7. Petra Guijt (48) 7:30.32
8. Grace McLaughlin (52) 7:36.00
9. Millie Bell (25) 7:40.78
10. Laura Hardy (40) 7:42.71
11. Lene Noerboege (61) 7:44.23
12. Catherine Munro (61) 7:50.38
13. Holly Monson (30) 7:55.05
14. Izabela Babica (45) 8:05.05
15. Zuzanna Wince (26) 8:07.35
16. Iris van Aurich (55) 8:08.75
17. Erin Medcalf (25) 8:10.17
18. Nadja Joy Tønnesen (37) 8:15.04
19. Jennifer Laffan (28) 8:17.12
20. Carmel Collins (45) 8:21.77
21. Marije Dirkx (42) 8:41.24
22. Peggy Henning (56) 8:45.97
23. Karen Molloy (52) 8:54.38
24. Dee Newell (39) 9:03.61
25. Kathrin Runge (55) 9:06.29
26. Robyn Dyson (23) 9:07.66
27. Nicola Doran (51) 9:17.58
28. Kathrin Döring (61) 9:44.69
29. Elke Ortloff (71) 9:58.74
30. Stefania Storace (66) 10:10.23
31. Ann Morrow (62) 10:13.46
32. Sallie Cheung (70) 10:14.79
33. Bettina Hausmann (38) 10:18.09
34. Agnieszka Narkiewicz-Czurylo (48) 10:43.49
35. Yasmine Pliessnig (27) 10:44.99
36. Annabel Médard (45) 10:47.17
37. Sona Rebrova (51) 10:48.93
38. Patricia Heffernan (62) 10:59.44
39. Stephanie Lyness (61) 11:43.71
40. Bjork Runarsdottir (45) 11:49.10

The Championships will continue through February 4th.

320 swimmers from 27 countries including Albania, Cyprus, Great Britain, Lithuania, Portugal, Turkey, Andorra. Czech Republic. Greece, Luxembourg, Romania, Ukraine, Armenia, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, Russia, Austria, Estonia, Iceland, Moldova, San Marino, Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands, Ireland, Monaco, Serbia, Belarus, Finland, Israel, Montenegro, Slovakia, Belgium, France, Italy, Isle of Man, Netherlands, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Spain, Bulgaria, Germany, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, Croatia, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein, Poland, and Switzerland will take part.

Race Day 1 on February 2nd 2024

• 500m freestyle
• 50m butterfly
• 100m backstroke
• 50m breaststroke
• 4x50m mixed freestyle relay
• 500m freestyle

Race Day 2 on February 3rd 2024

• 1000m freestyle
• 100m freestyle
• 100m breaststroke
• 4x50m VIP relay

Race Day 3 on February 4th 2024

• 250m freestyle
• 50m backstroke
• 100m butterfly
• 50m freestyle
• 4x250m country relay freestyle

With the water temperature at 4°C, all the events will be streamed live on the IISA YouTube TV channel (watch here).

For more information, visit here.

© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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