Luckily for me, New York [where I live now] provides the right set up for the sport. I’ve been a usual suspect at Brighton Beach in Brooklyn throughout the past two winters.

I never thought I would swim in the ice again after our race in the -1.4°C waters of Antarctica in November 2018 – which was probably the hardest thing I’d done in my life. However, as we were celebrating our accomplishment aboard One Ocean, everyone kept asking, ‘What’s next?’ and ‘Will you come to the Arctic now?’ It seemed the right thing to do, after swimming in all continents. So, after getting the clearance at work and at home, I ended up signing up for the 500m and 1,000m freestyle events in the IISA 3rd World Championship.

Day 1 in Murmansk was not easy. For some reason, I was in the best lane in the final 500m freestyle heat, but I knew I had tough competitors in Petar Stoychev, Christof Wandratsch, and Paul Georgescu among others. I was extremely jet lagged and tired, and the water felt very cold – understandingly so. After the 200m mark, my performance started decreasing and I touched the wall in 7 minutes 3 seconds for a modest 7th place overall and 3rd place in my age group.

I rested well for Day 2 and prepared to what was about to come, the Ice Kilometer. I was again in the final heat: a tropical swimmer surrounded by the world’s best ice swimmers.

It would be my third Ice Kilometer only and the first one in an ice pool with its uncomfortable open turns I had barely practiced. I start confidently though, and the water does not feel as cold, although it is still 0.2°C (32.3°F). My 6 minute 57 second split at the 500m mark was 5 seconds faster than my time in the 500m race the day before. Plus, I was swimming my own race as the pros caught me and lapped me again. I did the last 100 meters almost on my own (swimmers can leave the ice pool if they have finished), but I feeling strong all things considered.

I touched in 14 minutes 23 seconds which not only won my age group, but also beat the existing Spanish record of 16 minutes 28 seconds and was the fastest time among American swimmers with the previous best of 14 minutes 26 seconds. It felt surreal.

After the Ice Kilometer, it was recovery time. I walked to the recovery area where the Russians looked after my shaking body. Four volunteers, each one in charge of putting a hot towel on a part of my body: my head, shoulders, stomach, and legs. Towels are changed every 15 seconds, and they keep going for about 20 minutes. It was completely amazing and very effective. A few minutes later, I found myself in the sauna with the two-time world champion Petar, just like we were in Antarctica. Then the shivering stopped and I smile again, then cleared by the doctors.