Austrian man spends 2.5 hours in box filled with ice cubes

Josef Koeberl, an Austrian man beat his own record for the longest full body contact with ice cubes. Josef managed to stay 2 hours, 30 minutes and 57 seconds inside a custom-made glass box filled up to his shoulders with ice cubes.

To fight the "wave of pain" caused by the freezing temperatures, Koeberl says he was trying to focus on positive emotions. "I'm fighting the pain by visualizing and drawing on positive emotions so I can dampen this wave of pain," Koeberl told reporters.

"It was not unpleasant. In the beginning, one of my toes was crushed by a piece of ice," he said. "After it had melted, everything went according to plan".

More than 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of ice cubes were needed to fill up the box, after Koeberl stepped inside wearing nothing but swim trunks.

Austrian sportsman Josef Koeberl looks on as he stands still in an ice-filled glass cabin trying to set a World Record of staying in ice, in Melk, Austria.

Kids dressed in traditional clothes dance as Austrian sportsman Josef Koeberl stands still in an ice-filled glass cabin. A small crowd of people watched on as Koeberl beat his own record from 2019 by 30 minutes on the town square of Melk in Lower Austria.

Koeberl was hoping not only to set a new world record, but to beat his own time -- the official Guinness World Record is held by China's Songhao Jin, with 1 hour, 53 minutes and 10 seconds in ice in 2014, but Koeberl said that last year he endured two hours and 8 minutes last year at an attempt in Vienna.

Austrian sportsman Josef Koeberl prepares before he tries to set a World Record for staying in ice, in Melk. Dressed only in a pair of swimming trunks, Josef Koeberl was covered to his shoulders in 200 kilograms of ice in the main square of the Austrian town of Melk, west of Vienna, in a bid to set a new world record for the longest duration of full body contact with ice.

Austrian sportsman Josef Koeberl checks a glass cabin. Koeberl is planning to beat his own record one more time - next year in Los Angeles. His team said that Koeberl’s personal record is also the current world record when it comes to exposing the body to ice for as long as possible.

After being taken out of the icebox by helpers, he said that the sun felt "really great'' on his back.