Most southerly ice swim (male)

The most southerly Ice Swim (1 km +) by a male was at a latitude of 70.76°S and was achieved by Ram Barkai (South Africa) in Long Lake, near Maitri research station in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, on 7 February 2008. Barkai swam 1 km (0.6 mi) in a time of 22 minutes 5 second, with the water temperature at 1°C (33.8°F). This record has been ratified by the International Ice Swimming Association.

An Ice Swim is defined according to the standards of the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA). These regulations include that the swim should be unassisted and that only a swimming costume, goggles and cap be worn.

In degree-minutes, the coordinates were: latitude -70º 45.44 and longitude -11º 39.04.

Barkai has participated in a number of other record-breaking swims including the first open-water swim around Cape Horn (achieved with four others in 2011), first swim crossing of the Dead Sea (achieved with 24 others in 2016) and the first relay swim across the Bering Strait (a group effort involving 65 swimmers in 2013).

Even more southerly swims have been performed in Antarctica – Lewis Pugh (UK) swam at 71°S in the Ross Sea on 19 Feb 2015 and at 78.55°S in the Bay of Whales on 25 Feb 2015, however both of these swims were shorter than 1 km (540 m and 330 m, respectively), which is a standard minimum distance set out by the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA). Pugh also became the first person to swim beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet on 23 January 2020. This latter swim was performed at approximately the same latitude as Ram Barkai’s record holding most southerly Ice Swim, however owing to the inability to capture GPS data when beneath the ice it was not possible to confirm for certain the actual distance swum and if the required distance of 1 km (0.6 mi) had been covered.