SShe no longer sees anything, she no longer feels anything. But she keeps going, step by step. One arm at a time. The icy North Sea sucks the energy out of her and her body is hypothermic. The attempt to cross the English Channel had already started badly; the sea was rough that day. It's the year 2015. Instead of swimming in front of the accompanying boat, she swims behind it and therefore breathes in the engine's exhaust fumes. The waves keep crashing over her head; when she takes a breath, the spray splashes into her open mouth and the salt water she has breathed in collects in her lungs. She probably would have continued anyway. Until the last train.
A good eight years later, Nathalie Pohl swims her laps in the tranquil indoor swimming pool in Kirchhain, a small town 20 minutes by car from Marburg. There is a mild smell of chlorine in the air, the water is pleasantly warm at 28 degrees, almost too warm for competitive sports, especially for an extreme swimmer. But the twenty-nine-year-old is satisfied: she has known the Phönixbad since she was a child; she feels at home here, so to speak. The track is reserved for them, and their first training session begins between the red and white lines at 7 a.m. Some days she is in the water for six hours, she swims an average of 60 kilometers a week, plus strength exercises and physiotherapy.
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