Nearly 200 people from all over the country, including local residents, took part in the event, achieving this remarkable feat together.
The task involved participants taking turns to immerse themselves in a tub filled with ice-cold water in a relay format. By regularly swapping every few minutes, the Poles succeeded in forming the largest group in the world to participate in this challenge at that moment.
Międzyzdroje Mayor Mateusz Bobek also expressed his gratitude to everyone who contributed to this success via social media.
Michał Jurkowski also took part in the record attempt as part of his training for next year, when he plans to break the Guinness World Record for the "Longest Time of Full Body Contact with Ice." The current record is 4 hours and 2 minutes, and Jurkowski aims to surpass it in 2025.
Michał Jurkowski, during a training session on December 29, 2024, in Międzyzdroje, Poland, ahead of his attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the "Longest Time of Full Body Contact with Ice." Photo: PAP/Marcin Bielecki
Among the organizers of this extraordinary initiative was Katarzyna Jakubowska, who, a year ago, set the Guinness World Record for the longest full-body ice contact by a woman, lasting three hours, six minutes, and 45 seconds.
Ice swimming enthusiast Katarzyna Jakubowska in an archival shot from 2023. Photo: PAP/Marcin Bielecki
Photo: PAP/Marcin Bielecki
Guinness World Records was first published in 1955 in the "Guinness Book of Records," created by the Irish brewery Guinness. The publication aimed to settle disputes over records and achievements, and the first Polish edition was released in 1989 by the Gdańsk-based publishing house Reprom.
Source: Facebook.com/Międzyzdroje; Burmistrz Międzyzdrojów - Mateusz Bobek
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Check out an audio report by Marcin Matuszewski, available in our player above, for more details on Poland's winter swimming - or "walrusing", as it's called locally.