Courtesy of the 2016 Pirita Open International Winter Swimming World Cup in Tallinn, Estonia. The Pirita Open is a winter swimming festival held in the Pirita river in Tallinn, Estonia. Part of the International Winter Swimming World Cup circuit, the Pirita Open is splendid with its pool decks are covered in white, snow-white. The 2016 was held in 1.4ºC
Courtesy of Ram Barkai, International Ice Swimming Association. People write, people talk, people present all the time. Some write about training, racing, kayaking and crewing. Some write about what to eat and what to drink or how to pace or how to do dryland training. But when we want to learn about the open water, we listen to those who have done it
Courtesy of Ram Barkai, International Ice Swimming Association. The first International Ice Swimming Association 1 km Championship in Poland drew an impressive number of world-class swimmers. Carved out of a frozen lake, The Ice in Katowice, Poland attracted 21 athletes competed in the 1 km race. "All the competitors are experienced swimmers with
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Ned Denison has one of the widest arm spans in the open water swimming world, but his personal network has an even greater global reach. Denison has recruited an outstanding new group of marathon swimmers to serve on the voting panel of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. Each year, the
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria and Christof Wandratsch were rivals in professional marathon swims and across the English Channel. The mighty duo are among the fastest channel swimmers in history, holding two of the three fastest times in history: 6 hours 57 minutes by Stoychev in 2007 and 7 hours 3 minutes
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. If we had to make a theoretical all-star relay of great male open water swimmers to swim across any of the Oceans Seven channels (English Channel, Catalina Channel, Molokai Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, North Channel, Cook Strait or Tsugaru Channel), it would be an extremely difficult choice. With the
Courtesy of Nuala Moore, inside the Arctic Circle. International marathon swimming superstar Petar Stoychev [shown below] joined forces with the International Ice Swimming Association team of Kieron Palframan, Ryan Stramrood and Ram Barkai to create a formidable relay at the World Ice Swimming Championships in Murmansk, Russia. When the charismatic
Courtesy of Nuala Moore from inside the Polar Circle. Petar Stoychev [left] of Bulgaria, a FINA representative, and Ram Barkai [right] of South Africa, co-founder of the International Ice Swimming Association, are shown discussing the recent World Ice Swimming Championships next to the 25m competition pool in Murmansk, Russia. Copyright © 2015 by World
Courtesy of WOWSA, in Lapland Lake Semenovskoye, Russia. Athletes at the Olympics, world championships and major international events are required to gather in the ready room, a designated indoor or outdoor area or indoor room where the competitive swimmers gather before the race, often to listen to pre-race instructions from race officials or to store
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. When we watch the great athletes in the sport of open water swimming in the water, we easily sense their high degree of awareness that these athletes possess about conditions, currents and competition. It is almost magically how sensitive, strategic and smart they are in the open water. Athletes like Petar
