Meg Agnew

Meg’s love of water, coupled with the benefits of cold exposure, led her to ice swimming as rehab following a painful and debilitating injury. It’s an extraordinary honour for her to represent Aotearoa in both main and Para events with her SB9 Classification. Meg holds multiple age group long and short course NZ Masters and IISA World Para Records. She loves that ice swimming is an inclusive sport and that World Champs enables her to be a role model to Kiwis of all abilities that anything is possible. 

Helen Bolton

Based in South Canterbury, Helen has completed challenges such as a half Ironman, the Ocean Swim Series and Auckland’s harbour crossing swim.

In 2024, Helen embarked on a new challenge and competed in the national ice swimming championships. Always keen to test what her body is capable of, Helen aims to push her mental and physical boundaries and hopes to inspire others to challenge themselves, too.

Helen loves the camaraderie and support of her local and national ice swimming communities. She is excited to be representing New Zealand and is looking forward to competing at an international level.

Maddy Copeland

Maddy is a second-year Law and Psychology student studying at the University of Otago.

After learning about the benefits of cold water therapy for mental health, she took up ocean swimming. When she heard about ice swimming, she knew it would be a great opportunity to put her mental resilience to the test and go deeper into cold water therapy. Maddy is now an accomplished ice swimmer and competed in the 2024 New Zealand National Ice Swimming Championships.

Emilia Finer

Emilia fell in love with swimming at an early age. She is now a national open finalist and age-group medalist in the pool and a keen open water swimmer, competing nationally and internationally. She was introduced to ice swimming in 2023 and is the current female world record holder in three events. Emilia finds the sport to be a great mental and physical challenge within an incredible community.

Madeline Hobo

Madeline is a 16-year-old high school student who trains with the Stratford Flyers in Taranaki. Madeline has been swimming competitively since she was 7. She enjoys swimming outdoors and open water swimming, competing this year in NZ open water championships, swimming 10km and getting 4^th in her age group. Madeline has more recently competed in ice swimming and holds the age group U18 WR in the 500m Free.

Kevin Hopkins

Based in the Bay of Plenty, Kevin has had a long and enjoyable sporting career, highlighted by his inclusion in the NZ Ironman in 2008 and the World Xterra Championships in 2011 in Hawaii. Following this, Kevin developed a passion for open water swimming and cold water immersion. He enjoys the mental challenge of ice swimming and has competed in multiple national IISA events. Molveno 2025 will be Kevin’s second time representing New Zealand at the World Ice Swimming Championships.

Francois Lambrechts

Francois is a para (S10) swimmer from Dunedin. He was born with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 1A (CMT1A), which is an inherited neurological disorder that affects the peripheral nerves. Francois started open water swimming in 2019 and ice swimming in 2022. He holds the para ice swimming world records for the 1000m, 500m, and 250m freestyle events.

Vicki Liddell

Vicki is based in Central Otago and has a background in endurance racing. She has completed the full Ironman Triathlon and several half Ironmans and marathons. In July 2024, Vicki was looking for a new challenge. This saw her entering the New Zealand national ice swimming competition in Alexandra. Vicki won her age group events in the 500m, 250m and 100m races. As a result, she currently ranks in the top ten internationally for her age group. Vicki loves the mental challenge ice swimming brings, as well as the comradery.

Stephen Moore

Stephen has a long history of pool and open water swimming. He has now embraced ice swimming for the mental and physical challenge and is enjoying being part of an enthusiastic and supportive ice community.

Stephen has completed an Ice Kilometre and is the NZ and Oceana record holder in his age group for the 250m and 500m Freestyle.

Bethany Rogers

Bethany is a writer and author originally from the UK. She grew up spending holidays at the seaside, swimming in the North Sea. At 21, she moved to New Zealand and discovered the joys of competitive open water swimming – but couldn’t afford a wetsuit. 13 years later, she still hasn’t gotten around to buying one. She regularly trains in Lake Whakatipu, Queenstown and took up competitive ice swimming in 2023.

Tatjana Schmidt

Originally from the north of Germany, Tatjana has lived in New Zealand since 2009. With her athletic background in competitive equestrian sport, Tatjana overcame her fear of water in 2010 and completed the Auckland Harbour Crossing in the same year! She then swam in various NZ open water events and discovered a passion for ice swimming in 2022. Tatjana enjoys the mental and physical benefits of cold water swimming in this supportive community. She is very excited about being part of the New Zealand Frozen Ferns team for the World Championships.

Cameron Stanley

Cameron is a former NZ Representative and NZ Open Record holder in the 200 Backstroke. He holds several NZ Masters records, and in 2019 swam Lake Wanaka (44km) in 11 hours 45 mins. Cameron has coached swimming for 15 years, including eight years at North Shore Swimming, where he is a Life Member. Cameron now lives in Wanaka and does most of his cold-water training in the lake.

Heidi Winter

Heidi is a 15-year-old from Central Otago. She has a wide variety of interests, including music, ballet, tramping and gardening. Heidi is a national age group medalist, holds current Otago age-group pool records and was awarded the female Otago Emerging Swimmer of the Year in 2023. Heidi holds the World Ice Swimming U18 record for the 100m and 200m Individual Medley and NZ Age group and Oceania records for the 100m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle, and 250m Freestyle.

Sophie Winter

Sophie is a 17 year old from Central Otago and her recent introduction to ice swimming sees her hold the Female Ice Swimming World Record in the 100 IM and the NZ/Oceania title and records in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke.

Sophie has also been a national age group swimming medalist, is a part of the Otago Academy of Sport and was Otago Female Emerging Swimmer of the Year in 2022.