#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Norilsk cold swimming team successfully performed in the extreme open water swim X-WATERS Imandra in Monchegorsk, which brought together 40 athletes from different cities of Russia. Extreme athletes were offered three distances to choose from: one mile, one kilometer and 17 kilometers.
Norilsk was represented by Evgeny Syrba, Veronika Ksenafontova, Anton Zaitsev, Olga Alimpieva and Maxim Kochetkov. Silver is in our athletes’ bank.
“Each of the Norilsk residents conquered lake Imandra, overcoming a thousand meters. Veronika Ksenafontova took second place in the swim, having covered the distance in 19 minutes 38 seconds”, the Norilsk Development Agency said.
The Norilsk team got the right for participation in X-WATERS Imandra following the results of their performance at X-WATERS Plateau Putorana last year. In 2021 and 2022, the competitions were held in Taimyr, on lake Lama.
Recall that the X-WATERS Plateau Putorana project helped to loudly declare the tourism potential of the territory and popularize cold swimming as a sport.
This year the location has changed and the swim promises to be even more massive. Competitions in Monchegorsk became an excellent preparation for the Norilsk people before conquering the polar Yenisey. On July 29, Dudinka will host X-WATERS Yenisey. Participants will compete for the title of the best at distances of 100, 500 meters and three kilometers.
The X-WATERS swims in Taimyr were organized by the Norilsk Development Agency together with the administration of the Taimyr municipal district and Business Culture LLC with the support of the Norinickel company.
Recall that the Taimyr team with the right to free participation in X-WATERS Yenisey 2023 included 30 northerners.
Earlier, the Norilsk resident brought five awards from federal competitions in cold swimming.
Text: Anzhelika Stepanova, Photo: Norilsk Development Agency and editorial archive
