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Celebrating gold and silver at the world winter swimming championships! Outdooractive welcomes back Paul Bieber

Congratulations to Paul for his recent gold and silver wins – Outdooractive has a real world champion in its ranks.

Our SEO Manager made it to the top of the podium in his age group in the over 1,000 meters freestyle and also came in second in the in over 450 m category. Outdooractive CEO and Founder, Hartmut Wimmer, alongside his wife, Annette, Head of Finance, welcomed the newly crowned World and Vice World Champion following his return from Bled, Slovenia. As for Paul himself, his view on his achievement was pretty modest:

“What I found really special about the championships was getting to meet all the other athletes. That was actually the best experience for me. When you see what lengths some athletes will go to be able to participate in a world championship. Some of them came from as far as Argentina, Morocco, wherever. They have invested a lot of money and time to fulfil a life dream! That required insane encouragement. Getting to mix with such people from different cultures is far more important to me than any medals.”

“I feel right at home here!”

The 38-year-old Röthenbacher has been with Outdooractive for just over two years and spoke of his gratitude for the opportunity. “I feel right at home here. The team is great and the interaction between the different generations also works very well!”.  “Outdooractive suits me perfectly because of the flexible working hours. I probably wouldn’t be able to pursue my sports otherwise and that’s one of the many great things about Outdooractive – in my role as SEO Manager, I’m also not necessarily tied to fixed working hours.”

Paul (Team Allgäuer Alpenwasser/Outdooractive) is actually an ice swimmer and a multiple German champion and record holder. To qualify as ice swimming, the water temperature must be below 5 degrees. At the World Championships in Slovenia, Paul was jumping into the water of 5.8 degrees.  Bathtub temperature by comparison! My preparation for Slovenia was intensive. I thought the water temperature would be somewhere between two and three degrees and unfortunately, it turned out to be too warm.” Those who are getting chills just reading this might like to consider  Paul’s training methods: “Two days before leaving for the World Championships, I was sitting in a barrel at -0.6 degrees, for ten minutes.”

Paul plans to create a swimming school

Besides his own swimming career, Paul is also thinking about the next generation. “It’s extremely important to me that kids know how to swim! Corona was a disaster and there are fewer and fewer pools in some places.” Paul now plans to teach kids to swim in Röthenbach and Lindenberg using a three-stage model. “Some children first have to get used to the water and lose their fear of it through play. The second pillar is then at preschool-school age when children should learn the basics such as how to do a breaststroke and keep their heads above water. The third stage involves swimming distances of 25 or 50 meters. This perseverance is enormously strenuous for children.” Paul is currently looking for swimming instructors for his project.

The entire Outdooractive team wishes him every success!