PORTLAND, Maine — Mandy Sumner loves the water.
That love goes back to her childhood. Sumner said she and her brother were both active on swim teams growing up.
"We were always at the beach growing up here, down in Wells and Ogunquit, all day every day in the summer," Sumner said.
Mandy would go on to pursue a career in Geology but said she was quickly pulled back to the water. She moved to Hawaii in 2009 and found herself wanting to learn how to freedive. That sport has taken her to different competitions and even given her her first gold medal.
Earlier this month, Sumner traveled to Norway to add a new title to her resume: world record holder.
She would trade the warm Pacific waves for the frigid Norway waters and attempt to set a world record for the longest swim under ice by a woman wearing a swimsuit and bi-fins. Sumner said the ice was 19 inches thick, and the water temperature that day was 35 degrees. To set the record, she would have to push her body to swim 75 meters, which is about 50 feet shy of a football field.
"Even if I was nervous before my dive, as soon as I get in the water, everything would go away," Sumner said. "I would just concentrate on my breathing. The whole time I'm doing my dive I didn't feel the cold, and I was just focused on my dive."
After holding her breath for over a minute, Sumner emerged from the icy waters with a smile and a world record.
"It feels really good," Sumner said. "It really hit me on my way home."
Watch our interview with Sumner and hear more about her time in Norway in the video above.