North Pole Swimmer

A British endurance swimmer has become the first person to swim in the sub-zero waters of the North Pole. British explorer and endurance swimmer Lewis Gordon Pugh was in waters believed to be the coldest a human has ever swum in, but theres a reason for his swim. It doesnt get colder than this. Most people would die within seconds of hitting this freezing cold water. Lewis Gordon Pugh managed to swim a kilometer in just under 90 minutes in a pair of trunks. "I was very frightened. I really was. Ive never been to a place that looks so frightening. When I left the ship and I stood on the ice and there it was underneath me, this creaking and groaning and I looked into this big, black area of sea. Ive never seen anything that looks so frightening," Pugh says. An endurance swimmer and climate change campaigner, Lewis Gordon Pugh is the only person to take long-distance swims in all five oceans of the world. Last year, he swam the full-length of the Thames River. But after extensive cold water training in Norway, his ability to withstand sub-zero temperatures has amazed experts and earned him the nickname "The Polar Bear." "I didnt feel like a polar bear. On the trip up here, we saw three nicely beautiful polar bears, and they looked far more comfortable in the water than I was," Pugh says. But desperate to show how the ice caps are melting into the sea, Pugh endured temperatures as low as -1.8 degrees Celsius to swim into the record books, celebrating with a long hot shower. "It was the best hot shower Ive ever had in my whole life. I was in there for about 45 minutes, until I was able to get myself out of it," Pugh says. Photo Credit: Courtesy: Royal Navy