Finns host world’s coolest water sport

About 300 racers, age 11 to 79, plunged into an ice pool last week in the northern Finnish city of Muonio, part of the annual world icepool swimming championships.

Most competitors were Finnish, but four French tourists found their tour operator had signed them up the day before the race.

“This is…the only sport in which I can represent Lebanon at the world championship level,” Ghadi Boustari told Reuters news service.

The 25-metre long icepool was cut into a frozen lake.

“The feeling is difficult to describe. It’s something between drunkenness and euphoria,” said competitor Karl Farlin, 45, who was dressed in a fur hat after finishing the race in 1 C water.