Joseba Aingeru, Bengisu Avci Win Ice Kilometer at the Amsterdam Ice Swim

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Amsterdam Ice Swim (@amsterdamiceswim) serves as the Dutch Ice Swimming Championship and was held in Natuurspeeltuin Jeugdland in the heart of Amsterdam on December 14th – 15th in 4.70°C water and 6.0°C air temperatures.

Fergil Hesterman had seen his passion for ice swimming grow steadily from 2017.

39-year-old Spaniard Joseba Aingeru Saezmiera Abarrategui (@josebaaingeru) won both the 500m and 1000m freestyles while finishing second in the 250m freestyle and 4th in the 100m freestyle.

28-year-old Turkish channel swimmer Bengisu Avci (@bengisuavci) won both the 1000m freestyle and 100m breaststroke while 47-year-old Janneke Harmsen Bakker from the Netherlands finished second in the 1000m freestyle and won the 500m freestyle.

Avci’s Italian husband Egor Tropeano (@egortropeano) won the 100m breaststroke, but also ripped off a fast 1000m swim in history’s fastest breaststroke effort (see video below by Berker Göker) – and is looking forward to racing well at the upcoming IISA 6th World Championship (@international_ice_swimming) that will be held in Molveno, Italy between January 13th – 19th 2025.

Event director Fergil Hesterman pulled double duties as organizer and swimmer when he participated in the 4 x 250m relay event.

Christa Hesterman, Secretary and co-founder of the International Ice Swimming Association Netherlands, said, “We had a record number of participants this year. It is very good for our beautiful sport.”

IISA Netherlands was founded in 2019 by Richard Broer, Fergil Hesterman and Christa Hesterman with Irene van der Laan and Jac Guijt as board members. The IISA Netherlands promotes ice swimming in the Netherlands by setting up training groups and encouraging people to organize competitions. The IISA Netherlands also actively organizes official courses to train IISA officials.