On Day 1 of the IISA 6th World Championship in Molveno, Italy, eyes were on English Channel and Molokai Channel record holder 38-year-old Andreas Waschburger – who did not disappoint. He won the 500m freestyle by a comfortable margin over a pair of younger swimmers 31-year-old Reino von Wielligh of South Africa and 23-year-old Jakub Kacerovsky of the Czech Republic.
His victory followed the victory of his fellow German teammate Alisa Fatum-Böker to keep a lock on the distance freestyle events at the IISA World Championships.
500m Men’s Freestyle Top 10 Results
- Andreas Waschburger (Germany, 38, IISA bio here) 5:41.97
- Reino von Wielligh (South Africa (South Africa, 31, IISA bio here) 5:50.22
- Jakub Kacerovsky (Czech Republic, 23, IISA bio here) 6:10.98
- Rostislav Vítek (Czech Republic, 49, IISA bio here) 6:15.12
- Quinn Boyle (New Zealand, 19, IISA bio here) 6:23.61
- Virgile Poirier (France, 24, IISA bio here) 6:24.36
- Emil Lyubenov (Bulgaria, 36, IISA bio here) 6:30.38
- Tobias Bostrom (Denmark, 22, IISA bio here) 6:30.56
- Stephen Rouch (USA, 41, IISA bio here) 6:31.41
- Marek Rother (Poland, 56, IISA bio here) 6:35.12
In the preliminary heats, Scott Lautman (USA, 72, IISA bio here) set a age group world record in 8:06.61.
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 at 2.0°C where the ice shards need to be removed from the pool before the swimmers can compete. But that is not stopping the 754 athletes representing 48 countries around the world from enjoying the uplifting vibes and challenging themselves at the world championship.
The number of fascinating backstories on the athletes and their backgrounds and motivations to tackle the ICE are staggering to hear and learn.
Photos by HYLO®️-SPORT/ Janis Scheuermann
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