“The conditions in this sport are very harsh. When I won the 400m freestyle world title the temperature was 1.7 degrees Celsius,” said Tsanko Tsankov, who earlier this month became a double world champion and world record holder in ice swimming at the World Championships in Tallinn, Estonia.

“The swimming pool was built in the port of Tallinn. It is a temporary construction, the pool itself has no bottom, the depth is about 15 meters. The water temperature in the morning is usually below zero, but it does not freeze as it is salty. Every morning a few centimetres of ice form on the surface of the water, which the organisers remove. Nearly 1,000 swimmers from 41 countries took part,” Tsankov revealed at a press conference at Press Club Bulgaria today.

“My participation was part of my preparation for the upcoming marathon – our attempt to swim the Cook Strait. The distance between the two islands of New Zealand. The Cook Strait is included in the group of seven most difficult swimming marathons in the world. The distance is about 25 kilometres as the crow flies and the water temperature we expect is between 13.6 and 14 degrees. Standing in water that temperature for 5-6 hours or more is a very big challenge. The risk of hypothermia accounts for about 80 percent of the failed attempts to swim Cook Inlet. I am well prepared, have the stamina, even the speed, but I need to be able to cope with low water temperatures.

Cook Inlet is also known for one of the strongest ocean currents in the world,” said Tsankov of his upcoming challenge.

The Cook Inlet swim will take place between April 1 and 10, depending on weather conditions.

Tsankov and his team revealed that they do not receive any funding from the state, but only from sponsors, one of which is the Sport in Bulgaria Foundation. “Through the Sport in Bulgaria Foundation we help individual athletes as well as professional clubs, but specifically in the case of Tsanko, I was really inspired by Tsanko as an exceptional person. With his strong character and the personal qualities he shows. At the same time, the fact that he, together with Nikki, managed to fight on his own, despite the conditions in Bulgaria, despite the fact that he has no support from anywhere, he really deserves support. I think that Bulgarian individual athletes need a helping hand,” said one of the founders of the Foundation, Rossi McKee.