Just two weeks after its historic space walk, three divers exchanged the Flame beneath the surface of Lake Baikal to mark the first time the Relay has encompassed an underwater element.

The first handover took place on a boat in the middle of the lake as television presenter and biologist Ivan Zatevakhin passed the Flame to diver Nicholay Rybachenko, also an employee of the Baikal search-and-rescue team of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.

In a dive which culminated in a "flame-kiss" at a depth of 13 metres, Rybachenko then handed over to newsreader Ekaterina Andreeva who in turn passed it, still underwater, to Aleksandr Vronsky, a senior vice-president of Sochi 2014.

Two weeks after visiting space the Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch went underwear at Lake Baikal @Sochi 2014

Throughout this process, and unlike in Space, the Flame was kept burning continuously thanks to a special burner, which was designed and developed in a similar way to flares used for warning signals at sea.

After Vronsky rose to the surface of the lake the Flame returned to the shore in superb style courtesy of Mikhail Chuev, who spectacularly rocketed to a height of 10 metres using a jetpack,

He then handed over to rhythmic gymnast Daria Dmitrieva, the London 2012 Olympic all-around silver medalist, before she and other Torchbearers were triumphantly greeted by local residents and the Governor of the Irkutsk Region, Sergey Eroschenko.

This marked yet another high, or in this case low, in a Relay which is taking in all parts of Russia before arriving in Sochi for the Opening Ceremony on February 7.

Yet another mode of transport has been incorporated into the Torch Relay as it continues its four month journey ©Sochi 2014





Since returning from Space the Torch concluded its eastwards journey and arrived at the far most port of Vladivostok just 19 days after leaving St Petersburg. 

This came after a visit to the Avachinskiy volcano in Kamchatka where, despite fears of cancellation due to adverse weather conditions, Torchbearers descended by snowmobile and snowboard after being delivered to the summit be helicopter.

The Torch also passed through Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk where Flamelighters, including double gold medal winning boxing champion from Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Oleg Saitov.

To emphasise its openness and the diversity of Russia, the Torch has also been greeted by over 10,000 spectators at the administrative center of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Birobidzhan, while it was also met by Buddhist monk-lamas in Chita.

As the Torch made its way back to Siberia from Vladivostok it also enjoyed a journey on a specially decorated train on the Trans Siberian Railway.