Freediver Mandy Sumner is again in Maine after setting the Guinness World Record for the longest bifin swim underneath ice by a lady in a showering swimsuit in Norway on March 2nd. Mr. Sumner, 46, is initially from North Berwick and now lives in Sanford.Gregory Reck/Staff Photographer
Mandy Sumner was swimming in a frozen lake with a 19-inch thick slab of ice a number of ft above her head. And she needed to maintain her breath for over a minute.
As you possibly can think about, my intuition to stop kicked in. In reality, this typically occurs.
“You must get via it,” she stated. She was “singing songs in her head and counting the strokes. It retains her mind busy and he or she does not must suppose, ‘I do not wish to do that.’ ”
After 75 meters, Sumner resurfaced, setting a Guinness World Record for the longest bifin swim underneath ice by a lady in a showering swimsuit. The water temperature was 35 levels, however we did not have wetsuits. The 46-year-old from North Berwick achieved the feat on March 2 at Lake Mistiernet in Norway.
Why did she try this? After a chuckle, Sumner had a purpose.
“The easy reply is, why not?” she stated. “But the extra sophisticated reply is that I really like being within the water, whether or not it is chilly or heat. … I needed to do one thing that was necessary to me once more.”
That love of water, honed by a childhood spent swimming in swimming pools in Maine, led him to freediving, a sport wherein swimmers and divers push themselves to cowl uncommon depths and distances underwater. It led to ardour.
For Sumner, the extra time he can spend within the water, the higher.
“I’ve all the time been a brownie,” she stated. “My entire life, whether or not it is on the seashore or on the pool.”
Sumner’s freediving skills impressed these he met throughout his travels.
“She has nice method and stamina and managed to remain calm within the chilly,” stated Norwegian freediving store proprietor and coach Arve Gravningen, who organized the occasion. She says, “Eighty p.c[of freediving]is finished between the ears. Holding your breath and practising method helps, but when your head is not in the correct place, you are not going to get wherever.”
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Growing up, Mandy Sumner created alternatives for swimming that she did not have earlier than. She joined the Sanford Titans membership swim crew on the age of 5, the place she continued swimming till she graduated from highschool, and when she went to Noble High School, she practiced with Sanford and Masabesic since there was no crew. I began a crew to do this.
“The swim crew was my life,” she stated.
Sumner attended the University of Southern Maine, the place he performed collegiate soccer, when he put his swimming profession on maintain. However, when she got here west to Hawaii in 2009 for her job, she returned to the ocean and he or she started her scuba diving. In 2013, she heard that Annabelle Edwards, founding father of the U.S. Women’s Freediving Team, was main a gaggle that met weekly to dive in Honaunau Bay.
Mandy Sumner set a Guinness World Record on March 2 at Lake Mystjernet in Norway, when the water temperature reached 35 levels Celsius.Heidi Voll Photos
Freediving requires divers to carry their breath quite than utilizing scuba gear to breathe. While it is a area of interest sport within the United States, it has a extra passionate following in Europe. Competitions are primarily based on how deep divers can go underwater by swimming or pulling alongside a rope, and the way lengthy they’ll maintain their breath.
Sumner and two pals had beforehand tried to swim 110 ft all the way down to a shipwreck they’d visited whereas scuba diving.
“The first dive I ever did, they put a diver’s watch on me…and I went all the way down to the wreck, stood on the wreck, after which I got here again they usually stated, ‘Where did you go? ”’ Sumner stated. “They didn’t anticipate me to go that deep.”
Sumner met Edwards two weeks later, and shortly he was flying from Oahu to the Big Island each weekend to see her. Ms. Sumner, who misplaced her mom in 2008, known as Ms. Edwards her “hanai” (Hawaiian for “adopted”) mom.
“Mandy is a pure,” Edwards stated. “From day one, we knew this individual had the flexibility. … You’ve received to have the ability to flatten her eardrums. She can break ties, she’s aggressive, and he or she’s received the flexibility to… It was very comfy.”
Mandy Sumner swims underwater at Lake Mystiernet in Norway. Video stills by Arve Gravningen
“I beloved the sensation of being underwater,” stated Sumner, who stated she may maintain her breath for 5 and a half minutes. “The deeper you dive, the extra your physique adapts to it in several methods. … It’s so peaceable underwater. It’s simply you, and that is what I actually loved.
“It was actually a ardour. And I used to be actually good at it, so issues labored out.”
“Ever since I used to be a child, I all the time had this bizarre worry that if I fell into the ice, I’d by no means get again out,” Mandy Sumner stated. “That’s why we needed to do that in a protected approach. Just to see what it is like.” Photo by Heidi Voll
“I’ve had actually high freedivers, world report holders, world champion freedivers inform me that it is an excessive amount of and I must decelerate,” she stated. “But I did not pay attention. I received to the purpose the place I needed to pay attention.”
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After leaving the game, Sumner nonetheless managed to take part in freediving occasions, working as a coach, referee, and security diver. At an occasion in Iceland in 2019, she competed in pool and met South African sub-ice swimming report holder Amber Philary. Sumner started teaching Philly at subsequent occasions, and he or she met Norwegian freediver Gravningen whereas experimenting with chilly water swimming. Seeing what Sumner had achieved in her competitors, Graveningen satisfied her to present her a shot at her report.
Sumner stated she discovered the correct headspace on the finish of 2023 after struggling a miscarriage earlier this yr. The ordeal took a toll on her psychological well being, however she discovered the peace she wanted in taking over her problem of making an attempt her world report.
Mandy Sumner smiles after finishing the longest bifin swim by a lady in a swimsuit underneath the ice at Lake Mystiernet in Norway on March 2.Heidi Voll Photos
“Last yr was a battle. We’re lastly popping out of this, and I really feel like setting objectives and dealing towards these objectives is an enormous a part of this,” she stated. “It was a distraction, nevertheless it was very therapeutic. … Whenever you go into the water, even in the event you’re having a foul day or one thing, while you’re within the water, all the things simply disappears. It’s It takes away disappointment. It takes away unhealthy ideas.”
Sumner, who has lived in Sanford because the pandemic, started working three days per week with Emily Koehler, a power and conditioning specialist, via Maine Health’s Sports Performance Center. With data in thoughts, they targeted on observe and area coaching, higher physique and core power, and damage prevention.
“When you see her come via the door…she has a really sturdy construct,” Koehler stated. “She’s genetically constructed that approach in her genetics. … She can placed on muscle, she will be able to generate energy. She’s very, very athletic.”
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As a toddler in Maine, Sumner had little interest in ice water. Far from it.
“Ever since I used to be a toddler, I all the time had this unusual worry that if I fell into the ice, I’d by no means have the ability to get again out,” she stated. “That’s why we needed to do that in a protected approach. To see what it is like.”
And, in fact, there was adaptation to the chilly. To win this report, Sumner must put on a swimsuit quite than a wetsuit, which might expose extra pores and skin. According to the Personal Flotation Device Manufacturers Association, hypothermia in extraordinarily chilly water could cause lack of consciousness in about quarter-hour.
“If you are not used to it, it is a shock and also you wish to snap out of it,” Sumner says. “It took me a few week and a half to get used to it. … I simply needed to deal with, ‘Yeah, that is simply ice water, it is chilly water, you are able to do it.’ ”
Sumner was joined by three different folks making an attempt to set world data in numerous classes. Her job ready her. But on the day of her report try, after coming into the water, she felt her composure crumble.
Mandy Sumner on March 2 at Norway’s Mystiernet Lake, the place ice is 16 inches deep. She swam 75 meters, setting her new world report.Heidi Voll Photos
“My nerves undoubtedly received the higher of me,” she stated. She stated, “I had been attempting all week to decelerate my kicks, to not run so quick, to not expend a lot power. That all went out the window. I simply received in there and did the fundamentals. I sprinted.”
The ice Sumner swam via had holes drilled each 5 meters in case he ran out of breath and wanted to resurface. She had to withstand her temptation to tug up early.
“At the start of the dive, I could not catch my breath correctly,” Sumner stated. Sumner had Gravningen swim with him, carrying scuba gear for security. “After about 30 meters I felt like I wasn’t getting sufficient breath. But the second that feeling got here and that thought got here to me, I began singing a tune in my head and counting the variety of kicks and simply pondering I knew I may try this dive. It was solely a minute and 15 seconds, so I do not suppose I may maintain my breath that lengthy.”
Sumner proudly emerged from the opposite aspect and cheered. She is at the moment awaiting recognition within the Guinness Book of World Records.
“It was a very nice celebration and I felt nice,” she stated. “I used to be simply glad and had an enormous smile on my face. I used to be actually proud that I stated I used to be going to do that and I did it, and that one thing loopy like this was doable.” I confirmed those that in the event you set your thoughts to do one thing, you simply put your coronary heart into it and you are able to do it.”
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