Kristinn Magnússon of the Þingvallasund swim in Lake Þingvellir, Iceland is gearing up to attract a number of foreign swimmers for the 5K swim in 11°C (51.8°F) water at midnight.
The initial idea for a swim across came from Fylkir Sævarsson in 2000 – who later completed the swim.
Like many places around the world, the Icelandic open water swimming community is growing – but there was local trepidation about swimming in Lake Þingvallavatn where a local folktale (“Everything that goes down Lake Þingvallavatn never comes up again“) held sway.
But Fylkir stayed on the surface and proved the folktale false.
Linguistic note: Þ = th (same pronunication for the Icelandic letter.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Daily News of Open Water Swimming and founder of WOWSA. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010).