Meet the girl who has gone viral for jumping into lakes in a swimming costume in temperatures of -20°C. <br /><br />Elina Mäkinen, 27, has over 1.1 million followers on TikTok intrigued by her mental grit and huge smile as she leaps into freezing water.<br /><br />The student swims for between two and four minutes in the icy pools each day, with the backdrop of snow-covered Helsinki, Finland.<br /><br />She said: “Water is usually coldest at 0.2°C, because the water can be minus degrees only if it is salted or flowing. <br /><br />“So basically the coldest point is after getting up when air is -20C or colder."<br /><br />Elina has now been posting videos on her TikTok, @elinamae, of her jumping into snow-covered lakes for two years. <br /><br />“Sometimes it is a real struggle with the pain, but there’s still always the after-swim euphoria," the tax advisor said.<br /><br />Elina first discovered the joys of the chilly dip when she was only five-years-old when she was taken with her grandpa and brother Antti Mäkinen, 29. <br /><br />She said: “My grandpa shouted to me to get out and that I'm not supposed to swim in the water. <br /><br />“We now laugh about the event and he told me he was never scared for my swimming skills but more scared that he had to get in the water as well! <br /><br />“I was born in December and babies sleep outside in Finland during winter time, so I guess I have liked cold since very early ages. <br /><br />“Of course I love summertime too, but we also joke a lot with my boyfriend that I hate sweating and cannot tolerate heat at all!” <br /><br />Swimming in the icy lakes is a tradition in Finland in winter so Elina was acclimatised throughout her childhood, and continued it when she started studying Tax Law at the University of Eastern Finland. <br /><br />She said: “Going to the sauna and ice was my get-away and time to relax. <br /><br />“We participated in competitions in ice with my mum and got to know more of ice swimming culture and people around the world. <br /><br />“I started noticing the mental and physical game is something I really enjoy and decided after the 2014 World Championships to start training for longer distances like 450m and 1000m.” <br /><br />Her favourite local lake to swim in is the Suuri Vehkalahti in Joensuu, but also likes to hit up spots in Russia when on holiday. <br /><br />She aims to swim for between two and four minutes every day, but occasionally just braves a quicker dip to wake up her body but not start shivering. <br /><br />She opts for a longer swim, up to 17 minutes, once a month just to maintain her ability to swim in extreme conditions. <br /><br />Elina said: “I used to tie a rope around my hips so that I could swim still, but the only problem was that the rope froze to the stairs so I could not get the knot open. <br /><br />“It was -30 degrees outside and I managed to get off my belt and went to sauna to warm up myself. <br /><br />“I had to pour warm water on the rope to open it after a few hours. <br /><br />“After that I learned to be extra careful and always have plan B!” <br /><br />She loves being in nature, but despite her calm exterior she does want people to know that bearing the cold is not easy. <br /><br />“I love getting out of comfort zone, so every time I least feel like I want to get in, that is the time I push myself to go out for the swim,” she said. <br /><br />Her secret to bearing the arctic temperatures is both not thinking about the cold, but also staying conscious of how her body feels. <br /><br />She posted her first ice swimming TikTok in 2019, which quickly attracted a legion of curious followers. <br /><br />While filming one of her early videos, a police officer spotted her in the water, climbed down to the river just to check that she was ok. <br /><br />“It was super hard for me to take videos in public places after that!” she said. <br /><br />“I hope that I can encourage people to try ice swimming but at the same time want to remind to take carefully and be safe. <br /><br />“I usually like to take my friends out for a swim when I see them, so they can't really avoid my brainwashing. <br /><br />“Strangers are then divided to the people saying I’m crazy and people who get inspired to do something crazy. <br /><br />“Go out of your comfort zone and take time on concentrating yourself and how you feel.” <br /><br />ENDS
