Olga Weiss basked in the sun after the race, still wearing her flamingo hat.
It was a brisk start at 10 o'clock when the individual competitions began, where the competitors swam 25 m, 50 m or 100 m in different swimming disciplines. In total, more than 450 starters swam and swimmers from 17 nations participated.
The Open Scandinavian Winter Swimming Championship is part of the World Cup and is considered the toughest swimming competition in the world. One of the longer distance swimmers was Ailen Lascano Micaz from Argentina.
– It's fun to be here. We have chilly rivers in Argentina too, but the air is never this cold, so it's a big difference, says Ailen, who participated for the third time.
Alongside the swimming competition, the traditional hat competition also took place and many odd examples of headgear were on display, ranging from owl caps to a helmet with lanterns. In addition, a Norwegian TV crew was on site to film the program "Helt Ramme Sporter", during which the presenter Nicolay Ramm challenged the Norwegian hurdler Christina Vukičević Demidov to a 200 meters swim – which turned out to be incredibly tough in the zero-degree water.
– It feels absolutely fantastic and terrible at the same time. It's the absolute worst thing I've done, says Nicolay Ramm, whose body shook badly afterwards.
At 13.50 it was time for the relays, which attracted 45 teams and this was where the most local athletes participated. The Northvolt gang Morsy swam for the first time and there were happy faces afterwards.
– It was absolutely wonderful, now it feels fantastic! We have tried it a bit in Stackgrönnan, but never actually swam, says Agnierska Antonowicz.
– We were nervous before and almost regretted it, but cheered ourselves up with music. We are from Poland and it was fun to do this together, says Wojciech Wiraszka.
Dominika Falkowska, Alice Calzia, Wojciech Wiraszka and Agnieszka Antonowicz were part of team Morsy. They come from Poland and work at Northvolt.
Bureå Swimming Association, which won the relay last year, was also competing.
– The competition is tougher this year, but I hope we end up on the podium. The swimming felt good, says Agnes Olsson.
Happy faces in the team Skvalpellerna, which consisted of Eva Jonsson, Emma Mellgren, Li Nilsson and Emil Bjurman.
The doctors' team Svalpellerna also did well.
– I am so happy for my teammates who did this for the first time. I have swum before. The most important thing was that we beat Gyn, says seasoned winter bather Eva Jonsson, with a smile.
– It feels good to have done it; you didn't have time to think too much, you just had to swim hard, says Li Nilsson.
See the highlights from the relays here:
Here you can watch the entire broadcast of Norran's coverage of the relays
