How do you motivate yourself to overcome the cold?
Getting into cold water is never easy, but I keep my breathing slow and stable and start to move as soon as possible. Once I am moving, my body warms up, even in very cold water. After that, it’s a matter of monitoring myself, making sure my skin color is normal, my hands feel good, and everything is functioning as it should.

What do you do in your fulltime job?
I work in Human Resources for an international management consulting firm.

Swimming in Antarctica © Arik Thormahlen

What are your goals for this year?
In 2018 I completed a huge personal goal of completing an ice mile (a 1.6 km swim in open water under 5C) on every continent with my eighth ice mile in Paradise Harbor, Antarctica. During this special swim, I was joined by curious penguins! Swimming all seven continents was a journey of almost two years and the realization of a long held dream for me. I am the first person in the world to accomplish this challenge. I was also fortunate to be inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and be selected as Woman of the Year by the World Open Water Swimming Association for the second year in a row.

In the second half of 2018 I embarked on a personal project to set a Guinness World Record by completing six marathon swims on six continents in just sixteen days. Over the course of just over 2 weeks, we flew 26,000 miles, swam a marathon (6 miles to 28.5 miles) in each destination and enjoyed an amazing adventure with friends around the world.

Into the cool water © Arik Thormahlen

I’ve been very fortunate to be inducted into the International Ice Swimming Hall of Fame’s inaugural class and look forward to the ceremony which will take place at the 2019 International Ice Swimming World Championships in Murmansk, Russia above the Arctic Circle.

Who made these wonderful portraits of you?
My partner, Arik Thormahlen, is a very talented photographer and I am lucky to have him capture many memories of the beautiful places we have seen along our swimming journeys.

Jaimie, thanks a lot for your time. We wish you beautiful new icy challenges.