Mumbai: 25-year-old swimmer Prabhat Koli recently won a bronze medal at the 6th World Ice Swimming Championship 2025, held in Molveno, Italy in January 2025. This is India's first medal in the World Ice Swimming Championship. He secured the medal in the 250-meter freestyle event in the 25 to 29 male age group.
About The Competition
The competition was organised in water temperatures ranging from 1.1°C to 1.9°C. The International Ice Swimming Association (IISA) organised the 6th Ice Swimming World Championship, which took place from January 13 to 19, 2025. The event attracted nearly 700 swimmers from 44 countries, who competed in various disciplines and distances, ranging from 50 to 1,000 metres.
Prabhat Koli |
Prabhat Koli |
Prabhat Koli |
The competition occurred in a swimming pool where the surface ice was removed to allow the event to proceed. Prabhat stated, "My main event is open sea swimming. I wanted to test myself to see if I could compete in an ice water competition. To my knowledge, I am the first Indian to participate in the Ice Swimming Championship and win a medal. For this tournament, I practised in Nainital, where I had access to water temperatures of 8°C to 9°C for training. My target is to participate and win a medal in the Ice World Championship."
Prabhat Koli Explains His Transition From Open Sea Swimming To Ice Swimming
Prabhat explained his transition from open sea swimming to ice swimming, saying, "Whenever I approached companies or individuals for sponsorship, they asked about my medals or rankings. But open sea swimming is about completing the challenge, not about numbers. But people don’t always understand this, securing sponsorship was one reason I turned to ice swimming, " He further clarified that he plans to balance both open sea swimming and ice swimming in the future, though it will be a bit challenging.
Prabhat Koli |
Prabhat Koli |
Prabhat Koli |
Prabhat has successfully completed the prestigious Ocean Seven challenge in the past. When he was 23 years old, he became the youngest swimmer to complete all seven challenges; however, this record was later broken. The Ocean Seven comprises the English Channel (between England and France), the North Channel (between Ireland and Scotland), the Molokai Channel (between Molokai and Oahu in Hawaii), the Catalina Channel (between Santa Catalina Island and California), the Strait of Gibraltar (between Spain and Morocco), the Cook Strait (between the North and South Islands of New Zealand), and the Tsugaru Strait (between Honshu and Hokkaido in Japan).
Prabhat started his career in 2008 when he was eight years old. Over the last 16 years, he has won several medals, set records, and achieved significant milestones. In 2010, when he was just 10 years old, he won his first international medal in an open-water swimming tournament. So far, he has participated in 20 international tournaments and secured medals in most of them.
He is the youngest swimmer to achieve the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming and the first Asian swimmer to swim from Germany to Switzerland. Additionally, he is the youngest swimmer to complete the swim from Llandudno to Camps Bay in South Africa. Prabhat is also the first Asian swimmer to swim from Jersey to France and the first swimmer to cover a route along the Cape Town coast in South Africa. He is a master in open-water swimming, an adventure sport that is set to be included in the upcoming Winter Olympics. With this development, Prabhat is hopeful of participating in the event and winning India’s first open-water swimming medal.
Initially, Prabhat trained under coach Kishor Patil. Later, his father, Raju Koli, took over his training. His father worked as a scientific assistant at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre but took voluntary retirement to support his son's dream. He even sold his house twice to raise funds for Prabhat’s tournaments. Currently, they reside in Ulwe, Navi Mumbai. Expressing his pride, Raju Koli said, "Our community is Koli, and we have a deep connection with water. I wanted Prabhat to at least swim from Dharamtar in Alibaug to the Gateway of India, a distance of 36 km, as a tribute to our ancestors. However, he has achieved much more than that, and I believe he will continue to achieve greater things."
Apart from sports, Prabhat has earned a graduate degree in commerce and an MBA in Sports Management from D.Y. Patil University. He was felicitated with the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award by then-President Ram Nath Kovind in 2018 and also received the Shiv Chhatrapati Award from the Maharashtra Government.
