Petar Stoychev achieved one more outstanding success in his sporting career, winning the first ever swimming marathon in Antarctica on Sunday.

Fifteen swimmers from nine countries took part in this incredibly tough 1,000-metre race in the icy waters of the Antarctic, with air temperature at around 2 degrees C below zero, and temperature of the water – 0.8 degrees C below zero.

Stoychev reached the finish one minute ahead of the other swimmers, covering the distance in 11:08:38 minutes. Second came the fastest woman swimmer in icy waters Victoria Mori of Argentina, who clocked 12:09:31 minutes, and third, 30 seconds behind Mori – Diego Lopez of Spain.