Photos and videos courtesy of Giorgio Scala from Deep Blue Media.
Ram Barkai, founder of the International Ice Swimming Association, sent a comprehensive summary report covering the recently held IISA 6th World Championship held in Molveno, Italy. He and his team were exceedingly grateful for all the 756 athletes and numerous volunteers from 48 countries who were part of this success.
Conditions
The event was held under sunny weather, but the 50m pool challenged the swimmers ranging from 1.5°C to 2.1°C.
Performances
Despite the colder conditions at night or in the shady lanes, the performances were overwhelmingly incredible with 9 overall world records and 150 age group world records set and documented in near real-time by Microplus Data Processing & Timing, the timing partner of European Aquatics.
Visuals
He said, “We enjoyed the video overlay footage, which allowed everyone around the world to follow. Our social media team from UK Emily and Shaun from e-Marketing did a sterling job keeping the excitement online, and our photographer Giorgio Scala from Deep Blue Media and his team did real magic with his pictures and videos [see here]. Our doctors from around the world Michal from Poland, Francois from Switzerland, Karin from New Zealand, and a few others did tremendous work in recovery.
Global Community Communications & Objectives
In Molveno, we also hosted a meeting of the Country Chairs, bringing together all the Chairs of the country associations around the world. We explained our journey together to build IISA as a global movement with strong national associations. We also had an outstanding performance from para and youth swimmers and hosted an evening celebrating these essential communities. It was a strategic decision by IISA to host it in Italy and Molveno, even though Italy had limited experience in running ice swimming events. The decision was multi-dimensional, but there were two key factors:
- IISA wanted to be prepared for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games for a demonstration event in February 2026
- Put Italy’s IISA on the Ice Swimming map.
Holding an IISA International event has proven effective in mobilizing the country’s swimmers and support structures and bringing the swimming community to the Ice. It has worked well in every country where we held the World Championships. If all goes as planned, we can confidently say that we are ready for an Ice Swimming demonstration event in February 2026 at the Winter Olympics. Despite the challenges, we overcame them; we worked and improved daily, and we all had a fantastic experience and a very professional event.
The vision and dream of participating in the Winter Olympic Games is not the only dream and vision IISA has.
IISA Structure
It is important for us to get there and build the structures for a growing sport, as part of the reason IISA was founded is to find the best of ourselves in ICE. They inspire us and teach us like any other sport. However, we also want to bring the toughest and fastest and amazing swimmers in Ice Mile and its add-ons.
IISA has been very inclusive from the beginning. Yet, it strived for excellence in every aspect of our extreme sport. The safety of the swimmers, the integrity of achievements, professionalism in rules and events and our community. IISA is committed to retaining the Age Group regardless of any possible changes and is intended to keep it as a country’s representative sport. We have already created an Open category to allow the elite swimmers to excel and compete at their level. We plan to continue to do so, but we will introduce several new levels of qualifications – qualification time per age group and a qualification time to participate in the fastest heats. We have also looked at the qualifying swims table and will announce a few changes soon. IISA is committed to keeping the MAGIC in the Ice for all.
Additionally, IISA is reviewing a new Refugee Country Association status to accommodate those Ice Swimmers who do not have passports or are refugees from war-ridden countries.
IISA has decided to change its Continental structure to allow more continental events. This decision doesn’t affect the continental structure IISA has for Ice Miles and Ice Sevens.
The Competition Continental structure is shown below. The list of countries under each of these three [regions] will be on the IISA website soon. We aspire to hold a continental championship in each of the three every two years.
- Europe, Africa, and Independent Neutral Swimmers under one Continental Ice Swimming Championship
- Americas (USA, Canada, ad South America) under one Continental Ice Swimming Championship
- Oceania (Oceania and Asia) under one Continental Ice Swimming Championship
The IISA Global Board of Directors has gone through some changes. We would like to thank Richard Broer from the Netherlands for his long service on the IISA Board since 2017. While Richard is stepping down from the Board, he will continue to participate in IISA Netherlands and the IISA Education Committee. Richard’s experience in open water over the years made him a valuable member of the board. We thank you Richard. We also would like to thank Kate Steels for her service and role as the IISA Board Secretary for 8 years. She was also IISA Great Britain Chair for 7 years and was a valuable asset to IISA both in the UK and globally in so many ways.
We are grateful to Richard and Kate for their support, time, and selfless efforts during a critical period of IISA’s growth and evolution. We hope to continue to see them both in the ICE.
IISA will start its annual committee renewal process. Anyone who wishes to step down from a committee or join an IISA committee, please email internationaliceswimming@gmail.com
IISA 7th World Championship
To those who missed the announcement in Molveno, we will hold the IISA 7th World Championship in Megève in the French Alps. This stunning ski resort will have a brand new (in 2027) outdoor 50-meter pool and a heated indoor 25-meter pool next to it. It also has a complex with saunas, steam rooms, showers, change rooms, and a large indoor-outdoor thermal spa pool. We will announce the dates soon.
Swimming Rules and Regulations
IISA is working on a revision of its Swimming Rules and Regulations. The process has progressed for 10 months with many comments and feedback. The changes are as much as additions to allow us to become more professional and cover other areas that have been neglected or unspecific in our sport. We hope to finish the process by the end of April 2025.
IISA has only allowed competing in a 25m course pool until recently. Oradea 2024, IISA 1st European Championship was our first test of using a 50m pool. We have several competitions in the 50m pool including our recent 7th World Championship in Molveno. IISA has only recently (since Oradea) started collecting pool size information. We did not need that beforehand as it was in a 25m pool. We are still studying the differences since we have no tumble turn and 15m push, and we are examining how to split the records between long and short courses. Once we have decided to do so we will decide how to treat past records.
IISA Branding, Membership, Anthem
IISA’s brand and logo are critical to us, and we promote and protect them. Any use of the IISA logo aside from the Country Logo requires IISA permission and approval. IISA is proud of its logo and brand and is happy to promote it; however, we must ensure adherence to our brand guidelines is followed and not used for personal benefits. IISA allows the sale of items with the IISA logo as long as IISA has approved them. Using IISA Events to sell and promote personal items for commercial purposes requires IISA approval. Anyone selling or promoting their products in IISA events without IISA Global’s approval will be asked to stop and leave the event. IISA will set aside a desk at registrations for people who wish to promote their events, sell their books, or share ideas, as long as they have been pre-approved by IISA.
IISA will soon introduce an Honorary Lifetime Membership to recognize people who have helped it achieve its current status. The membership is an honorary title, provides lifetime Global Membership, and will be featured on a special page on the IISA website.
IISA is looking for an anthem. It must be relevant and resonate with our values and spirit. We would love to have this come from our community. It should be short, icy, and fun. We would like to invite demo anthems from our community to be sent to the IISA email. The anthem must be in English, the official language of the IISA and must be ICY.
IISA Growth
ISA is still a young organization regarding resources, but to grow, we will need some help. Our financial capacity to reward help is limited, so we will continue to rely on passionate individuals. However, we will compensate those who assist us where we can.
Website and technical person will be taught how to master the IISA and event systems and will assist Event organizers in managing their events with the IISA Event Management System. Using the IISA system is critical for IISA to ensure safety in our swims and events and to collate the results, which are used for qualifying and monitoring swimmers’ progress. This opportunity is flexible, can be done remotely, and requires technical expertise and integrity. It will require a period of activity and quiet periods. IISA will offer some compensation for the person’s time. ·
Events assistance person will be involved in IISA International Events and assist IISA in logistics and delivery before and during its events. IISA will offer the person flights, accommodations, and some expenses when they come to IISA Events. The person will not be allowed to participate in the events, as they will be busy and must focus on the event.
Both position requires working closely with the IISA President. For any queries, email internationaiceswimming@gmail.com.
Photos and videos courtesy of Giorgio Scala from Deep Blue Media.
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