I want to nominate Josef Köberl as he has made ice swimming popular in Austria. He not only founded the IISA Austria, but also launched the Austrian Championships. He co-organises ice swim events in Austria, which are now attended by ice swimmers from Austria, Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Israel, the UK and other countries.
Josef has trained over thousands of people free of charge to teach them safety and enjoyment in ice water. Josef has developed his own training method (Koeberl Ice Swim method) that anyone can use to learn to swim in ice water. He has already been able to take swimmers with health restrictions, blind swimmers and other disabilities swimming with him.
He was the driving force behind the founding of the organisation IISA Israel. Josef has supported several ice swimmers to successfully swim the ice mile, last swimmer was Avishag Turek (Israel) to complete her fist ice mile.
10 years after his first Ice Mile he did swim his 8th ice mile 2024, (1.5062 mi I 2.42km) breaking Austrian record and becoming 7th in the world ranking of longest distance ice swimming male.
Events
1. 2014 Ice Mile Grundlsee*
2. 2016 Ice Mile Emmersdorf
3. 2019 Ice Mile Wöhrsee Germany
4. 2020 Ice Mile Altenwörth
5. 2020 Ice Mile Altenwörth
6. 2024 Ice Mile Altenwörth (1.17 degree)*
7. 2024 Ice Mile Zauchensee
8. 2024 Ice Mile Zauchensee (1.5062 mi)*
*2014 first ice mile in Austria Grundlsee - first man in DACH region (Germany/Austria/Switzerland)
*7th longest distance iceswimming male and Austrian ice swim record as longest distance in ice water
*Extreme Ice Mile
- more than 20 Austrian Championship titles
- Founder and President of the IISA Austria
- 17 Official IISA 1k races
- 10 1k races in CZE
Eventdirektor:
2015 Winter Island Hopping, Vienna
2016 Styrian Panther 1K IISA Race, Grundlsee
2016 ICE Cup Germany and Austrian, Vienna
2017 IISA Ice Cup Grundlsee 1km Race, Grundlsee
2018 Hallstättersee Ice Swimming Dachstein Salzkammergut, Obertraun
2019 Austrian Ice Swimming Championships, Altenwörth
2020 Kuh & Kalb Schwimmen, Schönbühel
2020 International IC, Altenwörth
2022 Hallstättersee Ice Swimming, Obertraun
2023 Ice Bear Trophy and Austrian Championships, Altenwörth
2023 Hallstättersee Ice Swimming, Obertraun
2024 Ice Bear Trophy and Austrian Championships, Altenwörth
2024 Hallstättersee Ice Swimming, Bad Goisen
Other Swims & Considerations
2015 2nd Austrian English Channel swimmer 41,7 k
2023 Gibraltar Swim 15,5 k
2020 becoming first world champion in the ‘winter swim biathlon’ , Czech Republic
2021 1511m in -0,23 degree WT in Hintertux Glacier in 3214m Alt.
2 times 1k in -0,3 degree WT in Hintertux Glacier in 3214m Alt.
2019 World Records „Longest Duration Full Body Contact with Ice“ 2h 08 min
2020 World Records „Longest Duration Full Body Contact with Ice“ breaking his own world record with a time of 2h 30min
Winner of 3 24h races in Germany (Mellrichstadt/Waiblingen/Sarstedt)
40 lenghts lake Grundlsee (5.8k)
Swim from Vienna/AUT to Bratislava/SVK 55k 16 degree
125 swims in Natureispalast Hintertux Glacier in 3214m Alt.
