Brave Czech free-diver David Vencl has set a new world under-ice swimming record after plunging beneath ice in a frozen lake to cover a distance of 81m (265ft) while holding his breath for more a minute and a half.
The astonishingly courageous 38-year-old defied 3C water temperatures to dive into a hole cut in the ice of a lake in Lahost, northern Czech Republic.
Vencl was wearing only a swimsuit when he swam the distance of 80.9 meters to comfortably beat the previous record of 76.2m, set by Stig Avall Severinsen of Denmark in October 2013.
The lithe athlete held his breath for 95 seconds to swim under the one-foot-thick ice before emerging from another hole in the frozen lake surface as he completed the freezing feat.
“It was faster than I expected – I felt great,” Vencl said. “I knew for sure that I will swim the 80 meters but, of course, that weight of the moment was the only thing that was tiring me down a little bit.”
