Paul Bieber - Ice-cool guy: An interview with the holder of the German record for ice swimming

Before every ice mile season, there is a qualification swim. That was the case for me back then in Sonthofener Lake. At a water temperature of 6.5 degrees, I easily swam 2000 meters. I knew that the German distance record was 2200 meters, and I was confident that I could break it. And that actually worked out in 2021.

Then there was the German championship in ice swimming, where I became a 5-time German champion. Those were all short distances and before my official ice mile time. Only after I had achieved all that, I came to the ice miles. I was looking for new challenges for myself.

Ice mile swimming is not that popular now. By the end of 2022, only 478 swimmers had even swum ice miles. And if I pick just Germany, there have only been 22 people who have ever done it officially. 12 men, 10 women.

By the way, I have swum 7 ice miles in the last two years.

Before that, I did competitions in the sport of woodcutting. And then at some point, the Allgäu ice swimmer Hamza Bakircioglu approached me and told me that he was doing long-distance ice swimming at the world record level. For me as a former pool swimmer, this was unimaginable. How can you even swim at these temperatures! But it did make me curious.

Shortly afterward, I wrote to him and asked him if I could have a look at the whole thing live. He replied, "You're not just watching it live, we're meeting next week and swimming together!" And so I swam my first 100 meters in Sonthofen Lake and thought to myself, "How dumb is that?!" But somehow it also got me hooked.

Actually, it really can be an issue: Heart attack is definitely a risk, it could always happen. That's why I say don't just go into the ice water, feel your way into it. 

I honestly don't think much of the spontaneous and sporadic ice bathing trend, because you really have to get used to the low water temperatures first. From summer to autumn and from autumn to winter. This is how the body adjusts to it and your heart also trains differently. But I also have myself checked over and over again by the University Hospital in Ulm and my doctors give me the “go”.

But the "shock moment," I still have that every time. You can't get rid of that, because your body switches to survival mode at that moment. When I go into the water, I also feel thousands of pinpricks every time, which I'm sure everyone is familiar with. But only for the first 30-45 seconds.

At some point it stops and then it's more of a constant pain that I have to try to mentally endure. As soon as I have the feeling that I have to get out now, or doubts arise about what I'm doing, the body takes over. And then you really have to get out. 

I prepare really intensively for it. An hour and a half before I go into the water, I visually adjust myself step by step: How do I put on my swim cap, how do I put on my goggles, do I have the anti-fog on, do I have the buoy with me. What is it like when I go in? I walk toward the water, go in, what's waiting for me? I see the whole scenario from above and play it all out in my head beforehand. In this extreme sport, you have to prepare for the extremes.

When I enter the water and it starts, I just concentrate on my breathing and for what awaits me. But I also fool myself into thinking, "It's not that cold.... it feels good!". That's how I trick my body and look at the whole thing positively. Then when I swim, I don't notice anything around me. I'm so in the tunnel and focused, I really don't notice anything else.

I've always been a swimmer, so I don't really need to train in the technique anymore. But endurance is an issue. The ice swimming season usually goes until the end of February. After that, I really don't do anything in March and April and then move on to my real passion: road biking. That plays into each other's hands, of course, because both also train endurance. I ride my road bike until November when I can start ice swimming again.

In the summer, I actually don't swim that much. At most I do some strength training in the water. But I don't really get into it. This break is good and it is also necessary. But what was actually also part of it last winter was my change in diet. I gained 12 kilos to be able to swim the ice miles.

After this preparation period, I swam ice miles every week, and it really shows. In the end, I was really exhausted and glad when the season was over. The swim still takes a toll on you for quite a while, especially mentally. Five ice miles in one winter season like last year was heavy.

In the second year at the German championships, 200 meters freestyle, I went over the limit.

One of the reasons for that was I approached the whole thing a bit too lightly. Somehow I thought, I'll swim that fast now. But I really underestimated it. The water temperature was only 1.6 degrees and after 125 meters I suddenly saw nothing. Suddenly a black veil came from the right and I knew, okay, it's about to take my legs now, my circulation is failing. I was able to quickly raise my arm so that the lifeguard at the edge knew he had to save me right away. He was there in no time and pulled me out. I got into the ambulance, was warmed up again, my circulation was stabilized and then everything was fine again.

But that's also what I find difficult about short distances: How far do you go to the limit so that you don't just pull the plug on yourself? Sprints are much harder on the heart because there's a greater risk of overshooting the mark. On long distances, you swim at your own pace and are more mindful.

I have to take medication at the moment because my health is not up to scratch. I'm also currently being monitored by the University Clinic in Ulm while swimming and having my blood and heart checked. The whole thing is dragging on. So for the time being, I'm trying to get back into training. If everything goes well, I will start the season in January.

If I had already started training and swimming ice miles in December, I could have been chasing records, but it's going to be tight. I have to listen to my body and the doctors now and then react accordingly. So the records will probably be shifted to next year.

The time in which I still want to swim ice miles is also postponed in this way, of course. I'll probably do the sport for another two years, because I still have big goals. Two more world records would be nice: The most ice miles in total and then 4 ice miles in 24 hours. But mentally and physically that's just not on the cards this year.

My plan is still to start this winter at the World Championships in Bled, so on short notice. But then more just for fun, because I wouldn't have done any training and physically I would just have to see how it goes.