Jonty Warneken (Great Britain, 52, IISA bio here) serves as the Vice President of the International Ice Swimming Association and just returned from the IISA 6th World Championship in Molveno, Italy where an unprecedented number of para swimmers in the physically impaired, visually impaired, hearing impaired, and intellectually impaired classes participated [see list of participants below].
The para swimming community has come a long way since Warneken, Tina Deeken, Patricia Heffernan, and Nicola Doran were the first para swimming relay in the IISA 5th World Championship held in Samoëns, France in 2023.
There was a lot of groundwork – operational, logistical, and administrative – that Warneken and the IISA board had to address and achievement, as Warneken explains above in his fascinating interview where he touches on a number of topics.
Deeken, who competed in 7 events winning 5 golds, admitted afterwards, “The conditions weren’t easy for para swimmers, but we had great World Championships together with the non-disabled athletes.”
- Patricia Heffernan (Ireland, 62, IISA bio here)
- Tina Deeken (Germany, 48, IISA bio here)
- Geraud Paillot de Montabert (France, 55, IISA bio here)
- Amnon Salay (Israel, 53, IISA bio here)
- Nicola Doran (Ireland, 51, IISA bio here)
- Marc Boutin (France, 64, IISA bio here)
- Francois Lambrechts (New Zealand, 50, IISA bio here)
- Sergilla Marconato (Italy, 68, IISA bio here)
- Meg Agnew (New Zealand, 44, IISA bio here)
- Emma Biesbroeck (Belgium, 28, IISA bio here)
- Georg Dreuw (Germany, 61, IISA bio here)
- Jonty Warneken (Great Britain, 52, IISA bio here)
- Joseph Rothenaicher (Germany, 33, IISA bio here)
- Elay Chayot (Israel, 26, IISA bio here)
- Bruno Ferrieres (France, 41, IISA bio here)
- Christina de Tullio (Italy, 60, IISA bio here)
If other para swimmers would like to participate in future IISA events, practical information and guidance can be obtained from Warneken via email (jonty@warneken.com) or via messages on Facebook (here or here).
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