Photos from the World Championships  
photographer Seppo Sarkkinen

The Winter Swimming World Championships took place in the beach area of the Raatinsaari Island in Oulu during the weekend of March 3-5. Swimmers from a total of 18 countries participated in this unique cold swimming event and wintry carnival. Participating nations included such countries as Australia and Lebanon, together with several Middle-European countries. As expected, Finnish, Russian and British swimmers turned out to be among the best. The sunny weather attracted plenty of local people to witness the competition series on Saturday. Each of the World Championships competition series was won by a Finnish participant. The fastest swimmer of the Championships was Tero Matkaniemi of Joensuu Polar Bears, whose time 15,69 (25 meters) is a world record.
More in the press release (March 6, 2006)

Press release 060302 Swimmers from 18 Countries to Participate in Winter Swimming World Championships in Oulu

Pictures of the competition venue

Location of the competition venue on the map

Material on the Winter Swimming World Championships 2006 (pdf format)

	Schedule (pdf, 240 kb)
	Championships Logo, English
	Championships Logo, Finnish (pdf, 570 kb)
	Championships Poster (pdf, 584 kb)