Spyros Chrysikopoulos has realized many of his open water swimming and ultra pool marathon swimming dreams.
He has dreamed big and achieved major feats of endurance throughout his career. But sometimes he has fallen short. Stopping after 30 hours of swimming…and not finishing…is just excruciating. Chrysikopoulos was naturally disappointed and frustrated in those swims, but he never gave up on dreaming even bigger.
- He attempted a 124 km marathon swim from Rhodes to Kastelorizo in the Aegean Sea in October 2018, but fell short after 100 km and 30 hours.
- He attempted the swim from Rhodes to Kastelorizo again in 2022. This time he swam in a wetsuit and reached his goal after 64 hours 5 minutes.
- He swam 358.2 km in 7 days straight in May 2021 in a 50m pool at the Olympic Stadium Pool in Athens, Greece.
- He won the 24.5 km Toroneos Gulf Marathon from Kallithea to Nikita Beach in Greece in 8 hours 19 minutes in 2021.
- He finished first in the 29 km Zirganos open water swimming race in 2016
- In 2017, he swam 77.65 km in 24 hours in a wetsuit in a 50m pool.
- In July 2017, he completed a four-way crossing of the Toroneos Gulf, swimming 98 km in 34 hours 10 minutes in a wetsuit.
- In 2018, he swam 88.2 km in 24 hours in a wetsuit in a 50m pool.
- In 2019, he swam 100 km in 29 hours 16 minutes. His 24-hour split was 82.25 km in a 50m pool.
- In 2019, he competed in the 49th Toroneos Gulf Marathon, finishing in 5 hours 48 minutes.
- In 2023, he swam 90.1 km in a 25m pool over 24 hours.
Greece to Italy
This year, his plan was to swim from Greece to Italy.
He described his swim, “I decided to start from the westernmost point of Greece on the island of Othonoi and finish at Otranto in Italy. This straight line distance is 83 km but it is a very difficult sea with high waves and side currents.
I started swimming on Monday, August 26th at 9:05 am from the beach Ksilosermoi in Othonoi Island.
Unfortunately, late at night at the area of Albania and Corfu, there were two heavy rainstorms with bolts of thunders. This caused sudden weather change at the area where I was swimming. There wery big swells, strong winds, air gusts, and cold air. After midnight, I came across an endless shoal of jellyfish. Even though I continued swimming, after a while I started to vomit non-stop. As a result I had stomach spasms which made feel very cold.
So I decided to stop.“
But his dreams will continue.
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