Over 20 Romanians to compete in World Ice Swimming Championships

Over 20 professional and amateur Romanian athletes will compete, starting today, in the International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) World Ice Swimming Championship in Molveno, Italy, where 700 athletes from around the world are expected.

Among the 21 Romanians, aged between 17 and 52, there are two from Tulcea, Vladimir Romaniuc, 19, a first-year student at the University of Civil Engineering in Bucharest, and Matei Neculai, 18, a 12-grade student of the Spiru Haret National Collegiate High School of Tulcea, both of whom jumped into the Danube on Theophany, January 6, to fish out and bring to shore a basil cross consecrated by Bishop Visarion, as is tradition.

"Two years ago, I jumped for the first time into the Danube for the cross, on Epiphany. That was my first contact with icy water. Then, it became a pleasure, I was also taking cold showers at home and, last summer, Mihai, my coach, came up with this suggestion, and of course I jumped up for joy and said yes, I want to participate," Matei Neculai told AGERPRES.

An Aqua Vita Delta club member, he learned how to swim at the age of six, then did triathlon and won the national champion title at the age of 10. For three years he gave up triathlon for football, after which he returned to the pool, and now he combines swimming with school.

"I want to enroll with the Naval Academy in Constanta and continue my activity as a sportsman. I want to stay in Romania, to train here, I want to study in Romania. I feel good here, I don't want to leave and I don't plan on it," said Matei Neculai, who in Italy will run in the 50 meters freestyle, 50 meters backstroke and 50 meters butterfly. Together with his coach, Mihai Ivanov, a triathlon coach for 11 years, at the Aqua Vita Delta club, he trained for the world championship both in the indoor pool and in Lake Ciuperca and the coach says he is a modest, dedicated and very ambitious teenager."His goal or ours is to surpass himself, to outperform his own times in those events and to enjoy the experience. For an athlete, participating in a world championship, excluding the Olympic Games, is probably the spearhead, an experience to tell his grandchildren about," said Ivanov. The sixth edition of the World Ice Swimming Championships opened on Monday evening in Molveno, with a parade of athletes in the Italian town, and the first tests of the competition began on Tuesday morning in a pool with water at a temperature of less than 5 degrees Celsius. Among the first to enter the pool was Romanian Simona Chiru, a 2024 European champion.

"Chances are very good that Romanians will advance to the podium, after the excellent performance they had in Oradea, in 2024, a competition that we are proud of because it was the first European ice swimming championship ever organised. At that time, Romania ranked third among nations, and in terms of performances, I can say that they broke four world records. Unfortunately, in Molveno we no longer have Dragos Ghile, who signed a contract with a university in the United States, but a few more kids came from swimming, they are very competitive and hopefully can bring new medals," says Chairman of the Open Water and Ice Swimming Association of Romania Paul Georgescu.

A former professional polo player, Georgescu is the first Romanian to compete in a world ice swimming competition, the first Romanian to get notable Oceans Seven time results, one of the most difficult open water swimming marathon projects in the world, and the first Romanian to be inducted in the IISA hall of fame as a sign of appreciation for his sports activity and his support for the sport.

IISA was founded in 2009 and coined ice swimming, an extreme sport discipline involving swimming in water with a temperature lower than 5 degrees Celsius, only in a silicone helmet, a pair of goggles and a standard swimming suit. The association has established a comprehensive set of safety rules for athletes, and following official competitions there are also world records. At the moment, the association has members in 73 countries, and in 43 of them, including Romania, it has swimmers having swum at least one kilometre in icy waters. The objective of the association is to make ice swimming a winter Olympic sports.

In ice swimming, Romania has two certified world records: Andrei Enache, in the 250-metre freestyle event, and Dragos Ghile, in the 100-metre butterfly event.