Ger Kennedy: Swim Out To The Iceberg And Back

Sponsored by KAATSU, Ireland.

Host and International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame chairman Ned Denison had a wide-ranging discussion with Ger Kennedy on today’s Open Water Wednesday broadcast from Ireland.

Steven Munatones says of the charismatic Irishman. “Ger is a diamond, a swimmer hardened beyond belief. His real-world adventures are so fascinating, what he does around the globe is hard to believe. But when he explains what he does in the water and on dryland, you can feel – and feed off of – his confidence and enthusiasm. He makes you feel like you can go beyond your own mental limitations.”

Zoom is the platform in which Denison interviews Kennedy and other luminaries from the open water niches of ice swimming, marathon swimming, channel swimming, stage swimming, wild swimming, competitive professional racing, high-altitude swimming, Arctic swimming, and swimming holidays around the world.

Kennedy, known as Dr. Ice, is among the most accomplished athletes in the world of extreme sports. After an eclectic professional career on dryland, Kennedy has transitioned his physical talents, grit and creativity to the ice swimming community. His innate charisma and buoyant personality make his ability to withstand incredibly cold conditions looks so easy. In addition to pushing himself in Under Ice Swims, Ice Baths, Polar Ice Miles, and Zero Ice Mile [see below], he achieved the Ice Sevens Challenge, the first man to complete 7 different Ice Miles in Ireland, Norway, Siberia, Morocco, USA, and Australia that culminated in a 2,800-meter high altitude lake in Chile. He also helped organize open water events and Ironman triathlon swims in his native Ireland, but he admitted in the Open Water Wednesday interview that “this [ice swimming] is not a normal thing” and “…our course was swimming out to the iceberg and back.”


The Ice Sevens, swimming’s most extreme physiological, psychological and logistical challenge, is such an epic global adventure that only Kennedy and Jaimie Monahan have completed it.

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