The oldest participant was a 80-year-old doctor from Škofja Loka in central Slovenia and the youngest a five-year-old local, said a representative of the organizers, Nino Cokan.

Although most swimmers were from Slovenia, the participants came from roughly ten different countries. A further 5,000 visitors watched the event from ashore.

Cokan attributed the high turnout to promotion activities and the quite balmy conditions at 13 degrees Celsius outside and roughly the same sea temperature.

The event has been getting bigger by the year and after a change of venue it now appears to have reached its limit as Cokan announced that the number of participants would be capped next year.

Due to the large number of onlookers, one of the piers partly collapsed but fortunately without any consequences for the visitors or swimmers.

At the other end of the country, in Velenje in the north-east, divers made the 22nd annual dive into the local lake, while 43 dared a dip into the freezing cold river Savinja in Celje at only 0.9 Celsius.