Free-diver Vencl swims beneath ice, sets new world record

Gulf Today Report

Czech Republic’s David Vencl set a new world record by swimming under the ice.

The free-diver Vencl swam nearly 81 metres (265.75 ft) beneath the ice on Tuesday, breaking the world record after braving the freezing water.

David Vencl concentrates before breaking the new world record. Reuters

He was wearing only a swimsuit.

“This will do,” Vencl said after emerging from his minute-and-half swim in water measured at temperatures of 3 degrees Celsius and pumping his fist in celebration.

David Vencl reacts after setting a new world record.

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

An official referee shows a white card to confirm a new world record set by David Vencl. Reuters

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

Organisers said the ice was at least 30 centimeters (11.8 inches) thick, a condition for the record to be recognized.