Largest ice swimming competition

The largest ice swimming competition is the IISA® World Ice Swimming Championship, which was inaugurated by Ram Barkai of the International Ice Swimming Association in 2015. At the most recent (sixth) edition – held in Molveno, Trento, Italy, between 13 and 19 January 2025 – there were 756 swimmers representing 48 different countries.

This surpassed the record of 467 swimmers representing 41 different countries at the fifth World Ice Swimming Championships in Samoëns, France, between 11 and 15 January 2023.

As per all IISA events, the water temperature was below 5°C (41°F) and the swimmers were only permitted to wear a swimming costume, cap and goggles.

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).