[Asia Economy Reporter Nana Han] Under the 25 cm thick ice sheet of Siberia's Lake Baikal, a Russian woman dived for an astonishing 1 minute and 50 seconds and then swam 85 meters.
According to the Moscow Times and Russia Today, Yekaterina Nekrasova, a 40-year-old diver from Moscow, successfully completed the annual swimming competition held on Lake Baikal on the 7th, which was the Russian Orthodox Christmas.
Nekrasova entered the water of Lake Baikal wearing only a swimsuit, descending via a ladder, and swam along the route marked by cables.
She swam in water at 0 degrees Celsius without a wetsuit, which is necessary to reduce body heat loss, or flippers, which divers wear for free movement. The temperature outside the water at the time was minus 22 degrees Celsius.
Her colleagues cut sections of the thick ice sheet, which was 25 cm thick, at intervals in preparation for emergencies.
Nekrasova did not stop her challenge and successfully completed it. After the competition, she took off her goggles, smiled brightly, and gave an 'OK' sign to her colleagues. Her colleagues shouted, "85 meters! It's a world record!" and cheered. Their reactions were captured on video by her teammates.
For this challenge, she trained four times a week in a warm swimming pool in Moscow and practiced diving twice in actual ice holes, CNN reported.
Previously, Danish male diver Stig Severinsen swam 76.2 meters underwater beneath the ice sheet in Greenland in 2013.
Also, in February last year, South African Amber Filler swam 70 meters underwater beneath the ice sheet in Norway, setting a women's world record.
Nekrasova has not yet received official confirmation from Guinness World Records.
Nekrasova said, "Swimming under the ice sheet feels like being reborn, energizing," adding, "It is a very pleasant sensation unlike anything else, and I always crave it."
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