Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

When we look at the award podium and record books of the winter swimming and ice swimming worlds, our eyes immediately go to the fastest and first.

World-class swimmers like Christof Wandratsch of Germany who won the recent 1 km race at the Big Chill Swim Winter Swimming Gala in 12 minutes 42 seconds are impressive. Inspirationally so.

But so are swimmers like Louis Lecocq of Cool Huy team in Belgium who finished the 120m in 2:16.64 and the 1 km swim in 26:10.31 under strong winds, overcast skies, and in 6.4ºC (43.5ºF).

Lecocq swims both breaststroke and freestyle during his races, but always does so without goggles. “I do not like the fog inside the goggles,” he explains.

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