Extreme swimmer, Steve “the Seal” swims for 20 minutes in Antarctica in water at 1°

Stève Stievenart, 46, pushes his limits. MAXPPP – Sebastien JARRY

The colder it is, the more he likes it. His swimming in Antarctica among glaciers and penguins adds to an already well-stocked track record.

The extreme swimmer Stève Stievenart, nicknamed "the Seal" and specialist in crossings of the Channel, has succeeded in a new challenge: swimming in water at 1° of Antarctica, he announced on Monday.

Your hands and feet swell very quickly and it's very painful

In the company of other swimmers, the 46-year-old man, resident in Wimereux (Pas-de-Calais), swam on Saturday & quot;one kilometer near Port Lockroy, an English scientific base, in water at 1° and an exterior at 0°, in a time of 19 minutes and 46 seconds", he said in a press release.

"I had a lot of fun even if (…) your hands and feet swell very quickly and that&# 39;is very painful", he added, a few weeks after announcing that he wanted to make this crossing.

He has already crossed the Channel six times

Two weeks earlier, Stève Stievenart had achieved a first feat by crossing the Beagle Channel from Chile to Argentina (1.7 kilometers in 46 minutes) at the extreme south of the American continent, in water at approximately 8°.

His swim in Antarctica among glaciers and penguins adds to an already well-stocked list of achievements: Stève Stievenart has crossed the English Channel six times, considered the Everest of the world. #39;endurance in open water, including once in a round trip, becoming the first Frenchman to achieve this, and another in winter, which had never been done before.