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2021.02.24 17:10 GMT+8

Czech free-diver breaks ice-swim world record

Updated 2021.02.24 17:10 GMT+8
CGTN

Czech free-diver David Vencl rests in cold water during his training to break the Guinness world record for the longest swim under ice, at Barbora Lake near Teplice, Czech Republic, February 13, 2021. /CFP

Czech free-diver David Vencl swam nearly 81 meters beneath the ice on Tuesday, breaking the world record after braving the freezing water wearing only a swimsuit.

"This will do," Vencl said after emerging from his minute-and-half swim in water measured at temperatures of three degrees Celsius and pumping his fist in celebration.

The 38-year-old changed the location for the record attempt to a former quarry in Lahost, 100 kilometers north-west of Prague, from a glacial lake in Austria due to COVID-19 restrictions which made international travel difficult.

Vencl, who dropped into the water through one hole cut in the one-foot-thick ice (about 0.3 meter) before emerging from another, beat the previous record of 250 feet (76.2 meters) set by Denmark's Stig Avall Severinsen in October, 2017 in southern Greenland.

Source(s): Reuters
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