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Multi-discipline athlete Avram Iancu has managed to win the appreciation of the entire world and the title "Performance of the Year", after, last year, he swam 18 hours and 30 minutes against the Danube's currents, swimming thus 26 kilometers upstream.
The World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) has appreciated the performance of the librarian from Petrosani, and following the vote expressed on the association's website, the latter won the 2021 Performance of the Year global title.
According to the swimmer, it's for the first time in the history of the WOWSA awards that this title comes to Romania.
Avram Iancu spoke, in an interview granted to AGERPRES, about the prize obtained, his training, about family or daily habits, but also about the projects he intends to pursue this year.
AGERPRES: Avram Iancu, you managed to bring to Romania, as a first, the Performance of the Year title in open water swimming, after swimming against the current on the Danube for over 18 hours. What does this prize mean to you?
Avram Iancu: It's a very important prize that many swimmers in the world desire. It's not easy to be nominated for such a prize, much less to win it. To accomplish, at one point, the highest performance in the world in open water swimming is an apogee of the work that you've done for years on end, a crowning of a beautiful career that many athletes would desire. I am glad that I managed to bring this prize to Romania and that I could demonstrate that a man from the bottom of the Parang Mountain has the power to perform at the world level. I also thank Romanians that appreciated my nomination by WOWSA and voted for this accomplishment that I can now say is a joint one - mine and my supporters'.
AGERPRES: Where did the passion for swimming come from?
Avram Iancu: I've been swimming since 10 years old, but I never did competitive swimming in the sense of participating in competitions in the pool. I remember the first moments I was with my mother in Baile Herculane, in the famous 18-day balneary treatment holidays. In the hotel's pool I managed to float, for the first time, independently, on the water. I've always felt excellent in the water, and this was easy to see in the years that followed.
AGERPRES: Eight years ago you opened the way for special accomplishments for Romanian open water swimming, when, on your fourth attempt, you managed to swim the English Channel. Where did this idea come from, to swim across the Channel, and how much work did you have to put in to overcome this challenge?
Avram Iancu: That's right, on August 7, 2014, I became the first Romanian to "attack" a sea and the famous strait of the world - the English Channel, starting then, I believe, a revolution of Romanian open water swimming. I swam without a neoprene suit, as it happened for the first time 200 years ago, when the English Channel was swam by French soldier Jean Salatti, deported to England after the Battle of Waterloo. In what regards me, it all started after I read a book telling the history of swims across the English Channel. I said to myself that we, Romanians, can do this and I wasn't wrong.
AGERPRES: Other performances followed: swimming the entire length of the Danube, swimming from Sulina to Istanbul, along the Black Sea coast, the confrontation, again, with the Danube. How did you approach these challenges?
Avram Iancu: After the big success on the English Channel I noticed that a large part of Romanians resonate with what I'm doing. It was a natural path that, in time, I would want to accomplish other extreme swimming challenges. I managed to swim, as a world first, the entire Danube in 89 days, without a neoprene suit, following the path of 'The Danube Pilot' from the book by Jules Verne. I am the first and only man to have swam a river without using a protection suit. It wasn't easy, I had a lot of adventures, but also dangers to face. I even swam with an open chest wound after hitting a wood stump on the bottom of the river.
AGERPRES: Swimming is not your only passion. The ultramarathon at the Polar Circle showed that Avram Iancu has other qualities as well. Why did you choose such a challenge?
Avram Iancu: In the endless time I took to swim the entire Danube, countless ideas and questions popped up in my head. One of them was this: can a person who swims 3,000 kilometers finish the famous 620 km race at the Polar Circle? To find out the answer I had to go there and see. In 2019 I not only finished the race, but I took the third rung on the podium. So, it can be done! Being used to swimming without a neoprene suit in the coldest waters, I managed to withstand temperatures of minus 30 degrees. The competitors, fierce people, support each other, in need. I didn't swim in the Polar Circle, but I ran a frozen river, pulling after me a 25 kilogram sleigh in which I had my competition gear.
AGERPRES: You also opened the way for a competition - Parangul Night Challenge - in Petrosani. From a local race, not it has become a well-known one. There are dozens of athletes running at night towards the Parangul Mic peak. How is this race?
Avram Iancu: It's a pretty unusual race, just like my other ones. It's a vertical challenge, which takes place at night, using frontal lamps for light. It consists of going through a 4.5 km path, solely upward, towards the Parangul Mic peak, with a level difference of 1,000 meters. You start from the entrance to Slope B in the Parang resort, and you reach Parangul Mic peak, at 2,074m. You either run or push on walking sticks. The ending of the race is worth all the effort. From up high, competitors have a dream view offered by the panorama of the cities of the Jiu Valley, illuminated at night. This year we will mark a new edition, and the race is set for March 5.
AGERPRES: Let's also speak a bit of Avram Iancu, the man. What do you do on a usual day? What happens in the life of the librarian from Petrosani?
Avram Iancu: Usually, I speak less of myself. I wake up and get my morning refreshment in the cold waters of the river Maleia, which runs behind my house. Then I take my wife to work and the three girls to school, and finally I reach the Petrosani City Library, where I work. I don't have a pretentious menu: I eat cheese from the Jiu Valley, chickens from Mintia and tomatoes raised in my garden. I like to grow and tend to the tomatoes. Four months a year I have independence from this point of view and I'm proud of it. I am passionate about biking, running in the surrounding mountains, I like to see a good movie. Family is, however, first in all that I do!
AGERPRES: You said that family is the main support of your actions. How do your girls, your wife, your relatives react when you announce a new project?
Avram Iancu: The girls are always proud of me. The wife got used to my "high jinks". I am glad and I appreciate the fact that she doesn't oppose them. I could say I have the support of the entire family, and their support is deciding in my successes.
AGERPRES: The lake behind your house, Lake Stiurt, has become famous with you. It's not the only place where you swim. How long do you prepare to complete a new challenge?
Avram Iancu: If this lake had a mouth, it would speak of the countless hours of training spent there. Last year I swam an entire night in training. It's impossible to accomplish things without a lot of work. My training sessions grow in intensity, gradually, from one hour to 24 hours, depending on the objective. I train regardless of the weather, of the day, of their moment. It doesn't matter if there's ice on the lake - it can be broken or cut by chainsaw, because I've done that too. I am glad that my work and my results are an example for the youths, because I think I influenced many of them positively.
AGERPRES: What's to come for Avram Iancu?
Avram Iancu: 2022 will be full of challenges. I wish to be healthy and swim across Balaton Lake, in Hungary. Avram Iancu has the moral duty to conquer this lake ! And I also want to swim the entirety of the Chilia branch, on the Danube. The Sulina and Sf. Gheorghe branches I've already swam and I believe it would be beautiful to finish all three. Finally, I would like to thank all my fellow countrymen for trust and support!
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Avram Iancu is known for his athletic performances, among them a swim across the English Channel, in August 2016. In the summer of 2017, Avram Iancu swam the entire course of the Danube, over a distance of 2,860 kilometers. On his list of accomplishments there is also the swim in the Black Sea, in the autumn of 2018, when he swam 680 kilometers, along the shore, from Sulina to Istanbul, over 60 days. In all his challenges, the librarian from Petrosani did not use a neoprene suit.
