Largest ice swimming competition
Who
World Ice Swimming Championships
What
467 people
Where
France (Samoëns)
When

The largest ice swimming competition is the World Ice Swimming Championships, which were inaugurated in 2015. At the most recent (fifth) edition – held in Samoëns, France, between 11 and 15 January 2023 – there were 467 swimmers representing 41 different countries, 48 officials and 1,800 race starts.


The World Ice Swimming Championships are overseen by the International Ice Swimming Association, founded by South African open-water swimmer Ram Barkai. Barkai holds several world records of his extreme swimming, including the most southerly ice swim, after covering more than 1 km (0.6 mi) in Long Lake (70.76°S), Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, on 7 February 2008.

Samoëns was the fifth World Ice Swimming Championships, during which more than 20 new world records across various distances and strokes were set. Milder-than-usual temperatures contributed to helping swimmers to achieving peak performance, though as per IISA rules, the water remained below 5°C (41°F) at all times with an average water temperature of 3.7°C (38.7°F).

The debut World Ice Swimming Championships took place within the Arctic Circle in Lake Semenovskoe in Murmansk, Russia, on 20–22 March 2015, where the water temperature dipped below 1°C (34°F).