There was news out of the Gulf of Corinth off the coast of Greece that 29-year-old Mattieu Bonne broke his second endurance world record in his second sport this year.

But to put his unassisted swim in the Mediterranean Sea in perspective and to understand Bonne better, it is important to think back what he did in March of this year – and the various endurance feats that he has accomplished since 2017:

• Marathon des Sables: running 237 km between April 6th – 15th 2018 in the Moroccan desert
• Matterhorn: climbing 4,478 meters on August 17th 2018 in the Swiss Alps
• Mont Blanc: climbing 4,810 meters on September 3th 2017 in the French alps
• English Channel: swimming 33.5 km on September 16th 2019 in 12 hours 47 minutes
• Ironman Triathlon: swimming 3.8 km, biking 180 km, running 42 km on December 2nd 2018 in 10 hours 25 minutes in Western Australia
• Belgium Coast Swim: swimming 74.64 km along the Belgium coast on September 15th 2020 from De Panne to Knokke-Heist
• 8 Islands: completing 8 triathlons in 8 days on 8 different islands of the Canary Islands
• 7 Days Arizona: cycling 3,619.72 km in 7 days in the Arizona desert
• And more including a 1000 km winter trekking expedition, climbing Eiger (Alpine Big Three), Tour de Belgique, Camp Waes (see here)

In March, he set a world record for the longest unpaced distance cycled in one week: 3,619,72 km (see #highestweeklymileage) where he averaged 517 km per day while going up and down 13,487 meters of climbing across the Arizona desert.

Bonne wrote afterwards on Instagram, “Mentally ‘7 days in Arizona’ was by far the hardest challenge I ever faced. It was a battle from start to finish. A week filled with wind, rainstorms and flash floods. The wind remained throughout the entire week and became a huge opponent.

The week started off awesome with a 570 km ride on Monday. On Tuesday the wind and rain started to become a real issue. Still chalked up another 534 km that day. Day three brought little respite as I was forced to shelter in a gas station for 3 hours from a heavy rainstorm. This caused flash floods, resulting in some roads being blocked. In a week where every minute is planned and every kilometer counts, this was a huge setback. Still after losing 100 km that day, I was still on pace for the record.

The rain dissapeared on days 4, 5 and 6, the wind remained, resulting in having to change and monitor our routes constantly. The sleep deprivation was the biggest difficulty. Sleeping only 2-3 hours between 20-hour rides for 7 days straight is mental. After just 2 days, the hallucinations were already present. The closer I came to the end of the week, the crazier my illusions and hallucinations became. That just shows how deep I had to go to get this record. Pure evil.

So given his pedigree as a unique endurance athlete, the headline of Newsweek Magazine that read, “Man Swims Nonstop Across Ocean for Over 2 Days to Break World Record” was not surprising. Bonne swam 131 km (81.4 miles) in 60 hours 55 minutes 43 seconds in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece to break the longest unassisted distance swimming record of Neil Agius who swam 126.3 km (78 miles) on June 30th 2021 in 52 hours 10 minutes from Linosa, Italy to Xlendi Bay, Gozo on Malta at the age of 35.

Newsweek described the key record requirement being the swimmer cannot gain a net benefit from surface currents. The Gulf of Corinth extends deep into mainland Greece, separating the southern Peloponnese region from the more northerly parts of the country. Because it is a semi-enclosed inlet of the Ionian Sea, which itself forms part of the wider Mediterranean Sea, this may be the key geographic feature that enables his swim to be defined as a current neutral swim.

For more information on Bonne’s achievement and additional photographs, visit #worldslongestnonstopoceanswim.

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