Chasing Records in Icy Waters: Extreme NZ Ice Swimmer Aims to Defend World Records at Ice Champs!
Help Emilia dive into icy Italian waters at the World Ice Swimming Champs to represent NZ on the global stage and defend her world records!
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I’m stoked to be part of the Frozen Ferns, the NZ national ice swimming team, heading to the International Ice Swimming Association’s 6th World Championships at Lake Molveno, Italy in January 2025. I have always wanted to represent NZ on the international stage so am beyond excited to get the opportunity to do this for the first, of hopefully many, times!
Ice swimming is an extreme sport involving swimming in water of temperature below 5°C (41°F) unassisted and with only a silicone cap, pair of goggles and standard swimming costume. Wetsuits and other swim aids are not permitted so swimmers must brave the cold alone. Despite being freezing and not very pleasant at many times, I find it a great mental and physical challenge alongside the most incredible community! Almost 700 swimmers from 44 countries are attending the championships and ice swimming has an overall goal of becoming a winter olympic sport. I am swimming four events at the championships (100 butterfly, 200 individual medley, 250 freestyle and 500 freestyle) and am the current open female world record holder in the 100 butterfly, 200 individual medley and 250 freestyle. I also hold the open female New Zealand and Oceania records in the 500 and 1000 freestyle.
Attending the championships is a user pays event so I am doing some fundraising to offset some of the costs, especially as I am a current university student rolling on a tight budget! Thank you so much for all the support, it’s greatly appreciated!
Emilia :)
Use of funds
Funds raised will go towards travel, accommodation, entry costs, equipment fees, etc. for the championships and our pre-event staging camp in England, essential to prep for the event while transitioning from NZ summer.
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Latest update
Thank You For All Your Support! 12 February 2025
Thank you so much for all your support in helping me represent NZ at the World Ice Swimming Championships, it is greatly appreciated!
It was such a cool experience to swim on the international stage and race against swimmers from all over the world. The temperature in the pool ranged from 0.7 to just over 2°C throughout the event and before racing started a layer of ice up to 10cm thick had to be cleared from the pool! While definitely extremely cold, I thought it was a great physical and mental challenge and excellent opportunity to help me improve as an overall swimmer.
My results from the event were:
250 freestyle - 1st in age group (18-24 years), 2nd overall
500 freestyle - 1st in age group (18-24 years), 2nd overall, new age group world record of 6:18.08
100 butterfly - 1st in age group (18-24 years), 1st overall
200 individual medley - 1st in age group (18-24 years), 1st overall, new open and age group world record of 2:38.55
The Frozen Ferns, NZ's national ice swimming team, performed incredibly well at the championships, finishing fourth on the overall medal table, and the team culture and support made for a great trip. Molveno was a beautiful location, with the mountains and lake offering a stunning backdrop to the pool and getting to taste Italian pizza, pasta and gelato was a delicious bonus!
Thank you again for all the support! I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to rep the fern and look forward to hopefully doing it many more times!
Emilia :)
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Thank you for your support and kind words, it is greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for your support!
Thank you for your support, I really appreciate it!
Thank you for the support Williams family, hopefully I'll be able to bring back some crazy stories!
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