If there was a lock for a gold medal at the IISA 6th World Championship in Molveno, Italy, it was 20-year-old American Keaton Jones (@keatonjones_swim) in the backstroke events.

The sophomore student from the University of California Berkeley did not disappoint in the 100m backstroke on Day 1.

On his back as usual, Jones was flying.

100m Backstroke Men’s Final Heat

1. Keaton Jones (USA, 20, IISA bio here) 1:01.27
2. Virgile Poirier (France, 24, IISA bio here) 1:04.45
3. Cameron Stanley (New Zealand, IISA bio here) 1:07.57
4. Michal Tomaszowski (Poland, IISA bio here) 1:08.77
5. Jonatan Kopelev (Israel, 33, IISA bio here) 1:09.47
6. Modoran Cosmin (Romania, 17, IISA bio here) 1:10.91
7. Franciszek Korulczyk (Poland, IISA bio here) 1:11.09
8. Rostislav Vítek (Czech Republic, 49, IISA bio here) 1:18.76

49-year-old Rostislav Vítek of the Czech Republic and 24-year-old Virgile Poirier of France had an especially tough evening, but their performances were outstanding. Poirier finished a strong second before finishing sixth in the 500m freestyle in 6:24.36 only a several minutes later. Vítek, a 2008 Olympian and a 7 hour 16 minute English Channel swimmer, finished fourth overall in the 500m freestyle in 6:15.12.

Jones set a world record of 59.01 in the preliminary heats.

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.

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

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