Davaadorj Shagdarsuren
It’s Thursday evening and I’m waiting at Skellefteå airport for the swimmers who will represent Mongolia in the International Winter Swimming competition at Skelleftehamn on Saturday. I’m nervous that the swimmers will be too tired to talk to me, let alone have their photographs taken, but my nerves are put at ease once I’m greeted by their smiles and enthusiastic handshakes.
They’re pretty easy to spot amongst the travellers, wearing their dry robes along with their traditional Mongolian fox fur hats. Their journey has been impressive. 15 hours from Ulaanbaatar to Stockholm, via Istanbul. Then the relatively short hop from Stockholm to Skellefteå.
Davaadorj Shagdarsuren, 55, Munkhtur Tsenguun (his granddaughter), 12, and Sodbayr Munkh-Orgil, 15, will be among those swimming on Saturday. Davvadorj is no stranger to Skellefteå - this will be his fifth time competing here. He has been swimming for 42 years, and has worked as a swimming coach for the past 20. He is coach to both M.Tsenguun and S.Munkh-Orgil, and himself has collected an impressive 200 medals for swimming.
Munkhtur Tsenguun
– I think it’s really nice in Skellefteå. We have competed in the USA, Slovenia, Estonia, Germany, Poland and Vladivostok, Russia. Vladivostok was the most difficult because the water temperature was -2C, says Davaadorj.
I ask Davaadorj how he prepares his students for ice swims. He tells me that for technique they train in pools and for endurance they train in open water.
– In the summer we swim in the Khuvsgul lake and the Tuul river, then in the winter we swim in the Terelj river. It’s good training, says Davaadorj.
Sodbayr Munkh-Orgil has already finished in third place at the World Championships in Italy this January. Two years ago he won the silver medal swimming in Estonia. Not bad going for a 15 year old.
Sodbayr Munkh-Orgil
Munkhtur Tsenguun won two gold medals and one silver medal in the Slovenia international swimming event. In the USA ice swimming event she won one gold medal, in Vladivostok she won two gold medals in 2023, and in the Italian ice swimming event she won one bronze medal 2024. And let’s not forget, Tsenguun is 12 years old!
Something tells me that Davaadorj Shagdarsuren, Sodbayr Munkh-Orgil and Munkhtur Tsenguun will be well worth watching on Saturday!
Left to right; Munkhtur Tsenguun, Davaadorj Shagdarsuren, and Sodbayr Munkh-Orgil, photographed at Skellefteå airport.