The cold is expanding.

After the Ice Mile and wearing of the IISA Red Jacket became a bucket list among cold water swimmers, then the Ice Triple Crown and the Ice Sevens Challenge became goals to shoot for among the ice swimming community.

Gerald Daringer, a 47-year-old from Telfes Im Stubai, Austria, is a lecturer at the Department of Sports Sciences at the University of Innsbruck by weekday and an ice swimmer by weekend.

This February, he achieved the Ice Triple Crown by completing one Southern Ice Mile in either Africa, Oceania, Polar Antarctica, or South America, one Northern Ice Mile in either Asia, Europe, North America, or the Polar North, and one Ice Kilometer at an IISA World Championship or a National Championship in a pool, all in water at or below 5.0°C.

Together with Irish para swimmer Nicola Doran, he completed his remaining high-altitude Southern Ice Mile in Lake Aguelman Sidi Ali, Khenifry in Morocco in 4.57°C water and -0.90°C air temperatures at 2,080m in 29 minutes 21 seconds.

Daringer joins a small, but growing, global list of highly accomplished ice swimmers who are pushing the boundaries – and imaginations – of open water swimmers worldwide:

Ice Triple Crown List

1. Ram Barkai (South Africa, 66) achieved 20 March 2015
2. Kieron Palframan (South Africa, 50) achieved 20 March 2015
3. Ryan Stramrood (South Africa, 50) achieved 20 March 2015
4. Jaimie Monahan (USA, 44) achieved 13 Feb 2017
5. Kate Steels (Great Britain, 54) achieved 15 December 2017
6. Ger Kennedy (Ireland, 54) achieved 6 January 2018
7. Shaun Hales (Great Britain, 38) achieved 18 February 2018
8. Fergil Hesterman (Netherlands, 30) achieved 16 June 2018
9. Cath Pendleton (Great Britain, 52) achieved 31 January 2020
10. Paul Eugen Dorin Georgescu (Romania, 45) achieved 22 February 2020
11. Hassan Baraka (Morocco, 37) achieved 6 February 2022
12. Ailén Lascano Micaz (Argentina, 33) achieved 23 January 2023
13. Marion Joffle (France, 25) achieved 17 February 2023
14. JB Lanza (USA, 39) achieved on 22 January 2024
15. Gerald George (USA, 65) achieved on 9 February 2024
16. Gerald Daringer (Austria, 47) achieved on 25 February 2024
17. Nicola Doran (Ireland, 50) achieved on 25 February 2024

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