International Swimming's 'Cold War'.

OULU, Finland -- British/Russian relations are set to be tested to breaking point this weekend (Sunday) - but this time it'll be in the ice-cold water at the World Winter Swimming Championships.

British cold-water swimming sensation Lewis Gordon Pugh - the first person to complete a long-distance swim in each of the world's five oceans - has thrown down the gauntlet to Russia's national swimming competitors at the Swimming Championships currently being held in Oulu, Finland.

In an eight-lane, 25m long pool cut from the ice, Pugh will single-handedly take on the entire 4 man Russian national relay team. And as if that's not enough, one of that team's top competitors, Colonel Vladimir Ljutov of the Russian Army will also race Pugh on Sunday in a 500 meter in the 0 degree C water.

Pugh is no stranger to cold water. In accordance with English Channel Swimming Association rules, Pugh, in only a Speedo, goggles and swimming cap, broke the world record off Antarctica last December for the southernmost swim ever completed and in water of 0 degree C water.

Pugh has been in Finland this week where scientists from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health have been testing his unique ability to withstand long periods in icy water.

South African sports medicine guru Professor Tim Noakes, who accompanied Pugh to Antarctica, determined that Pugh has a unique ability to raise his body temperature to nearly 39 degrees C, just by visualising the swim ahead of him.

Pugh is well-known across the world for ability to swim long distances in sub-zero temperature water, but is almost legend in Scandinavia. In 2003 he swam around the top of the island of Spitsbergen barely 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole. And in 2004 he baffled sceptical Norwegians when he decided to swim the length of their longest fjord, Sognefjord, a gruelling 204 kilometer journey in water temperatures as low as 6 degrees C, which took him 21 days to complete.

Pugh, who has been training for the Winter Championships in icy lake water on Mount Snowdon in Wales, says he's all ready to take on the Russians. "It's a huge challenge, but I'm going to do my very best to beat them off. I know there are four of them and one of me, but I've taken on the Arctic and the Antarctic, and surely nothing could be more challenging that that," Pugh said from Finland the day before the challenge.

In February this year, in Sydney, Australia, Pugh notched up the distinction of becoming the first person ever to complete a long-distance swim in all five oceans of the world, a feat which many had considered to be the "Holy Grail" of swimming.

"All my previous swims have really been about competing against myself and my own limits, so this is really new ground for me. But I'll be out there doing my very best, and I don't intend to be beaten," an upbeat Pugh laughed.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Pictures will be available through Getty Images