Finnish TikToker goes viral cutting holes in ice and swimming under frozen lakes

Elina Makinen, a 28-year-old TikTok user from Finland, has amassed 1.4 million TikTok followers merely by unleashing her inner ice queen.

Makinen is a strong fan of swimming in ice cold glacial waters in her own country.

The real-life mermaid has spent the last decade of her life taking daily dips while temperatures in Finland plummet to as low as -22 degrees Fahrenheit.

Makinen also works as a tax consultant and lives in her hometown of Muonio.

Her blue-hued movies have received over 46 million likes, and her clips show her relaxing in the region’s freezing waters. Makinen recently spoke with Insider about her cool lifestyle and how ice swimming is a popular hobby in the Nordic country.

“Staying in the water and waiting for time to pass may get boring, so I decided it would be interesting to start recording some videos.” “Doing TikTok videos just came effortlessly,” Makinen explained. She began using TikTok in 2019.

She went on to say that while Finland has its own swim clubs, during COVID, people simply made their own swimming holes.

“Of course, there are ice swimming clubs where people may go,” she noted, “but many of them were closed due to Covid, so people would just dig their own ice holes and swim anywhere they liked.”

“A lot of people on TikTok comment and ask me things like, ‘Won’t you get hypothermia?’ or ‘How do you withstand the cold?'” she continued. To them, this is insane, but to Finns, it’s nothing.”

Makinen’s first cold swim was with her family when she was 5 years old. “Ice swimming is a bonding activity for my entire family,” she remarked. “I think of it as our version of yoga or meditation; it provides both mental serenity and an endorphin surge.”

She added that her night swims help her deal with stress and that her morning dips “help to get my blood circulation going and makes me feel refreshed.” She normally just stays in the water for 30 seconds to six minutes.

“When it’s too cold, even for me, I cut it shorter.” “I have to be careful not to get frostbite when the temperature drops below -25 degrees Celsius (-13 degrees Fahrenheit),” she said.

Makinen explained that during the winter, she allows herself a two-week sabbatical from the sport. While she recognises the health benefits of ice swimming, she also warns that it is not for the faint of heart.

“You absolutely have to know yourself and your body,” she remarked. I don’t mind if I shiver a little. Others enjoy working out in order to break a sweat. “I enjoy the chill.”

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