Elina Mäkinen
Ice swimmer, Tiktokker & Story Teller
Born in cold
Elina is born in Finland. As a December child, she took her nap outdoors during the winter down to chill -20 °C temperatures like many other Finnish babies.
After teenage competitive swimming years, pool changed to open water training. Elina has challenged herself with channel swimming and completed extreme ice swimming distances in freezing waters.
Winter air
Elina has adapted herself to freezing temperatures with training and mental stamina. She was one of the first people to participate in 1km ice swimming world championships in 2015, completed her first ice mile in 2017 and holds record for women’s coldest ice mile (1.6km) completed in -0.8°C water in Svalbard 2022. She has participated in Hypotermia tests in Oulu Health Institute and x-ray for brown fat at Turku University Hospital in connection to Science Documentary COLD by Yle/Arte France.
Frozen heart
Elina is enthusiastic to share her experience, inspire people to get out of their comfort zone and motivate people to find their inner energy. Even if she might appear fearless and fun making both dancing TikTok’s in freezing ice hole and exciting freediving under the ice, safety is a priority in extreme cold. Knowing the importance of safe recovery and after-drop is key element for increasing capacity to tolerate cold.
