Exploits of the ice man

"I am the only winter swimmer who has pulled out all the stops for all sorts of competitions among my peers," he says proudly.

His shortest competition was 25 meters in the sea, and the longest 13,500 meters in Meishan Bay in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. In 2017, he won fourth place in the Hong Kong Open Water Winter Swimming Championship, his southernmost competing site. In 2018, he traveled to China's northernmost ice swimming training base in Jiagedaqi district, Greater Khingan Mountains, and came fourth in the 50-meter breaststroke in an invitational competition with the air temperature close to -30 C.

He also competed in the plateau international swimming championships in Delingha, Qinghai province, at an average altitude of 2,980 meters. He has won several gold medals. His coldest challenge was in December 2018 when he took part in the Sino-Russian International Winter Swimming Open in Shuangya Mountain, Heilongjiang province. At the age of 59 years and 11 months he qualified to compete in the 1,000-meter event in water of 0.2 C. The air temperature was-21 C and he finished the race in 23 minutes, being awarded a Hero Medal, his top award to that point.