Most northerly ice swim (male)

The most northerly Ice Swim (1 km+) by a male (and overall) was performed at the northernmost possible point on Earth – 90°N – traversing the geographic North Pole in the Arctic Ocean by Lewis Pugh (UK) on 15 July 2007. It was the first time – and to date the only time – that anyone has performed a long-distance (i.e., 1 km+) swim across the North Pole. The swim took 18 minutes 50 seconds and the water temperature was between -1.7°C (28.9°F) and 0°C (32°F) – seawater can dip below subzero without freezing because of its salt content. This record has been ratified by the International Ice Swimming Association.

An Ice Swim is defined according to the standards of the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA). These regulations include that the swim should be unassisted and that only a swimming costume, goggles and cap be worn.

The most northerly Ice Swim (1 km+) by a female was at a latitude of 78.3°N and was achieved by Kinga Korin (Poland) in Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway, on 27 Jun 2017.

Purely in terms of latitude, Pugh can also claim to have performed the most southerly swim. He swam at 71°S in the Ross Sea on 19 Feb 2015 and at 78.55°S in the Bay of Whales on 25 Feb 2015, however both of these were shorter than 1 km (540 m and 330 m, respectively), which is a standard minimum distance set out by the World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) to qualify.

Well known for his pioneering swims, Pugh became the first person to swim the length of the English Channel on 12 Jul-29 Aug 2018 and the first person to swim beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet on 23 Jan 2020. This latter swim was performed at approximately the same latitude as Ram Barkai’s record holding most southerly Ice Swim however owing to the inability to capture GPS data when beneath the ice it was not possible to confirm for certain the actual distance swum and if the required distance of 1 km (0.6 mi) had been covered.