In March, Locust Valley High School junior Nevzat Arda Agir continued his international swimming pursuits, plunging into cold water and taking part in the Winter Swimming World Championship in Oulu, Finland.
“It feels terrible at first, then you start swimming, and it’s alright because in that environment you don’t feel that cold because you are excited,” Agir, 16, said.
The competition saw over 2,000 athletes from 50 countries swim in the outdoor pool at 28 degrees. The weather was cold enough that the laneshad to be cut out of ice at the start of each day, but Agir said those conditions didn’t deter him.
He was the youngest member of the 16-19 age group, earning fifth place in the 25-meter freestyle and 50-meter breaststroke, and sixth place in the 25-meter breaststroke. In the breaststroke relay, Agir’s team, “Ice Swimmers,” finished in fourth place.
Agir said the Finnish race was part of a long list of competitions he has already competed in and plans to swim in more going forward.
Agir said he began swimming when he was six and fell in love with the sport.
By age 15, he had trained his way to swimming the 4.3-mile Bosphorus Cross-Continental Swim off the coast of Istanbul, which separates the continents of Europe and Asia. In 2025, Agir continued his long-distance swimming journey by participating in the two-mile Swim Across America event at Pryibil Beach in Glen Cove.
He then began his training for the Catalina Channel swim, a 20-mile journeybetween Santa Catalina Island and the California mainland, but needed to do cold water training, which is when he began working towards theWinter Swimming World Championship.
Agir said he was doing 100 days’ worth of training for it, where he would dip into waters each day that got as cold as 26 degrees as he began gearing his training towards the Finnish race.
“The hardest part towards getting ready was mentally,” Agir said. “When you are getting ready to get into that cold water, you tell yourself you actually can do it.”
Source: LI Press
