Alaska News

Swede completes record-breaking ice swim

A woman from northern Sweden has beaten the world female ice swimming record by three minutes, according to Radio Sweden.

During the approximately one-mile swim, Anna-Carin Nordin's body temperature sunk to a dangerously low 91.2 degrees, reports local Swedish Radio in Gävleborg.

When asked what drove her to beat the world record, Nordin replied "sheer devilment and pure willpower".

In 1987, Lynne Cox swam the Bering Strait between Russia (then the USSR) and the U.S. coastline of Alaska. Cox, 30 at the time, made the 2.7-mile swim wearing only a swimsuit, cap and goggles. Because of strong currents, the swim actually turned out to be 5 miles long.

This year, Cox rejected an invitation to make the swim again, saying she thought it "really dangerous" to subject the human body to such extremely cold temperatures "again and again." Read more about Bering Strait ice swimming.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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