Carson City native Lisa Yamamoto sets US record for longest ‘ice swim,’ 8th in world | Carson City Nevada News
As validated by the International Ice Swimming Association, Carson City area native Lisa Yamamoto completed a 1.61-mile swim in 37.1F water to claim the longest “Ice Swim” in the United States, the 8th longest in the word, and the 2nd longest for a female.
On Jan. 29, while the rest of us were putting on coats to get warm, Lisa was removing her thermal swim jacket and entering the 36.26 F water of the Columbia River at Broughton Beach in Portland, Oregon.
With just a swimsuit, goggles and silicon cap, Lisa swam 1.05 mile, completing the “Ice Mile.” What is an “Ice Mile,” you ask? It is completing a one-mile swim in 5C or cooler water in just a standard swimming suit. Wow!
While the feat itself is grueling, assuring your swim is certified by the IISA is no easy task. You need a support team to record and validate water temperature, air temperature, swim distance, capture the swim on film, as well as have a support paddler and trained medical personnel available for the swimmer’s safety.
“I trained for weeks leading up to the swim by spending 25-30 minutes in the water and swimming the mile distance several times in water between 3-4 degrees Celsius.
“The week leading up to my swim I was nervous because the water temperature had dropped to 2 degrees Celsius (the coldest it got all year), but with the encouragement of my swim friends, I felt confident I could complete the swim. It was both exciting and relieving to become ‘officially frozen.’”
Lisa was one of 458 in the world (50th in the United States) to be certified since the association started in 2009.
Lisa then learned of a Seattle swimmer who broke the American Ice Swim distance record just a few weeks earlier with a 1.4-mile swim. Lisa’s brain started doing the math.
She felt strong after her Ice Mile and was routinely swimming between 3-4 miles a week in cold water. Could she do it? Lisa thought it was worth a try. She called together her support team and on February 26 at Fallen Leaf Lake, Washington, Lisa completed a 1.6-mile swim, placing her 8th in the world for ice swim distance, and the 2nd longest for a female! It is worth noting that the wind chill at the time was 26.6 F!
Growing up in the Carson City area, Lisa swam as a Tiger Shark for three years. In high school and college, she chose to play softball instead of swim.
After graduating with a degree in Biology from Linfield College (where she was an All-American softball player) and an MS in Biomedical Forensic Sciences from Boston University School of Medicine, Lisa settled in the Vancouver, Washington area. She returned to swimming for exercise and found she enjoyed open water swimming, which inevitably, linked her with the brave souls drawn to the Ice Mile challenge. Go here for the IISA Event Distance Records ranking, where she is listed under distance swim.
Asked if she is eager to jump back into the cold water soon, Lisa simply said “After spending almost every day in the cold water leading up to the swim, I am ready for a little break, but I will definitely be back in the water, just for a shorter amount of time until the water starts to warm up.” She definitely deserves the break. Well done, Lisa.