Ice bath legend recruits 207 others to join her in teeth-chattering world record relay
A cold-loving ice bath enthusiast who broke a record by immersing herself in freezing conditions has helped hundreds of others become record breakers too.
Katarzyna Jakubowska (Poland) spent 3 hr 6 min 45 sec submerged in ice in 2023 to earn the record for longest duration full body contact with ice (female).
Then last December, she recruited 207 other people to join her in becoming the most participants in an ice bath relay.
Mum-of-two Katarzyna and the others had to spend at least five minutes each in the giant ice bath, with a teeth-chattering temperature of 2ºC (35ºF).
She organized the 22-hour event, held in Międzyzdroje, Poland, with the help of Filary Zdrowia Association with Morsjanki I Morsjanie.
Katarzyna during the ice bath relay
The furniture designer explained she wanted to help others experience the thrill of record breaking like she had, even if she wasn’t always met with kindness from strangers online.
She told us: “The idea stemmed from the jealousy and resentment I faced online after setting my previous record, particularly regarding my frequent visibility on the internet. This led me to temporarily withdraw and abandon plans for another personal record.
“However, I then conceived the idea of organizing a relay event for people across Poland, allowing them to experience the same emotions I felt a year earlier when I became a Guinness World Records title holder. My goal was to unite our entire community, fostering connections, collaboration, and the creation of something monumental through shared support.”
And although Katarzyna has already broken a record, she said this time around was a totally different experience.
Katarzyna during her full body contact record
She said: “My personal record was definitely more challenging physically, but organizing a record attempt for over 200 people was a much bigger logistical challenge.”
She added: “It was not easy for the participants either, as not everyone is used to winter swimming without neoprene shoes and gloves. There was also the pressure that if someone surfaced even for a moment, the record would not be recognized, which was an additional burden for the participants.”
Katarzyna didn’t just have to find people to brave the ice bath, she also needed a team of 60 volunteers to help the event run smoothly and several independent witnesses to document everything for the record attempt.
As a record holder and a Polish Winter Swimming Champion, Katarzyna is well known in the cold exposure community, so had many people come forward to get involved in the relay.
Katarzyna takes ice baths every week and says she gets many benefits from them.
She explained: “The greatest benefits are meeting new people, self-improvement, building self-confidence, and the positive impact of cold exposure on mental health and depression. Cold therapy helped me a lot when I was struggling emotionally. It wasn’t another person who reached out to me - it was the cold itself.”
On how it feels to have achieved a second world record, she added: “It’s an amazing feeling, but I’m especially happy that 207 other people can also celebrate being world record holders. They put in a lot of effort to show that we can accomplish great things together and that the cold brings us together. That was also the motto of the event: ‘Let the Cold Unite Us’.”