Courtesy of Ram Barkai, International Ice Swimming Association, Murmansk, Russia.

Since Christof Wandratsch set the first Ice Kilometer world record of 13 minutes flat in 2015, the record has been steadily eroded by Petar Stoychev, and most recently, Sven Elfferich.

The decrease in times has been extraordinarily impressive. A remarkable world record time decrease of 8.2% has been achieved over the last 4 years as the athletes continuously push themselves:

* Christof Wandratsch (Germany) IISA 1st World Championship on March 20th 2015 – 13:00.0
* Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria) Aqua Sphere Ice Swimming German Open Burghausen on January 10th 2016 – 12:28.0 (4.1% decrease)
* Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria) 2nd Ice Swimming Aqua Sphere World Championships on January 6th 2017 – 12:15.9 (1.6% decrease)
* Sven Elfferich (Netherlands) Austrian Ice Swimming Championships on February 16th 2019 – 11:55.4 (2.8% decrease)

With all the former and existing world record holders scheduled to compete in the upcoming International Ice Swimming 3rd World Championships in Murmansk, Russia in March, the record will most likely fall again.
“It is remarkable that four world record holders will face off head-to-head in any sport,” observed Steven Munatones. “World record holders have an incredible level of ‘grit’ and drive – and the way the championships are shaping up with such global interest, seeing four swim shoulder-to-shoulder will be a unique experience.”

Watch the ice swimming world championship live at the YouTube channel:

The world’s #1 ranked swimmer, Elfferich, is shown above in the Amstel Ice Swim in 2018.

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