Thousands of swimmers cross warming Lake Zurich

9196 swimmers cross Lake Zurich Keystone-SDA

Some 9,196 recreational athletes swam across Lake Zurich on Wednesday in waters measuring 27 degrees Celcius.

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The event was sold out for the first time since the introduction of advance ticket sales in 2018, as the organisers announced in the evening. The 9,196 athletes included 196 young people aged between 12 and 15.

As always, hot bouillon and a plate of risotto were served at the finish area in Tiefenbrunnen lido – despite the 32-degree heat. There were no incidents, according to the press release.

The crossing is 1,500 metres long and leads from Mythenquai to Tiefenbrunnen. Boats with lifeguards were positioned every 50 to 70 metres to help swimmers in distress.

The first lake crossing took place in 1985. Since then, almost 160,000 people have taken part. It has not been possible to organise the popular sporting event every year. On several occasions, the weather did not play ball and the event had to be cancelled for safety reasons.

The event was cancelled twice due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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