Amfibiemannen, live.

Down into the fort, out to the Sea of Åland

A swimrun on Arholma, the island where Stockholm’s archipelago meets the open sea: about 13 kilometres on foot and 2.5 in the water, back and forth all afternoon.

Amfibiemannen is one of the oldest swimrun races, and in 2026 it returns as a sprint: Saturday 25 July, mass start at 13:00, on Arholma at the outer edge of the archipelago north of Stockholm. The organiser publishes 15.5 kilometres, just over 13 of them running and 2.5 swimming, and the race is open to solo athletes and to women’s, men’s and mixed pairs. It is part of the Swimrun Sprint Cup.

The course is not a road anywhere for long. It runs through untracked forest, along narrow paths and Arholma’s gravel roads, over skerries and smooth rock slabs ground down by the inland ice, across inlets and open water. It goes out onto the cliffs facing the Sea of Åland, down into Arholma fort and past the island’s beacon, Arholma båk. Every swim has a marshal at the entry point, every swim over 100 metres has at least one safety boat, and the organiser adjusts the line to the weather on the day.

A swimrun is hard to follow from the shore, because the athlete keeps disappearing: into the sea, behind the next island, inside the rock of the fort. On Livebib the athlete shares a link to their own broadcast, and family open it in a browser, with no account and no app. They see the position on the course line, the distance covered and a finish estimate for the return to Arholma. When the phone loses signal in the water or underground, the position is carried forward along the course and marked as estimated instead of freezing.