Over the last nearly 100 years of Catalina Channel swimming history, there have been over 800 solo one-way crossings of the channel, but only 15 successful two-way crossings.

On Tuesday, mother-of-two 37-year-old Sidney Russell (37, USA, MSF bio here) completed a 27 hour 52 minute 64.6 km two-way crossing of the Catalina Channel from Palos Verdes Peninsula to Santa Catalina Island and back in 27 hours 52 minutes. She was assisted by crew chief Summer Wesson, Michelle Barwick, pace swimmers Emma Piggott, Astolfo Feregrino, and Melissa Strong,  escort kayakers Steve Sutton, Rachel Wetterlin, and Angela Lee, observers Don Van Cleve and Marc Horowitz on board the Bottom Scratcher.

Multi-way Crossings of the Catalina Channel

1. Greta Andersen on October 5th 1958, Catalina-Mainland-Catalina in a 10:49:41 first leg en route to a 26:53:28 two-way
2. Penny Lee Dean on September 4th 1977, Catalina-Mainland-Catalina in a 8:33 first leg en route to 20:03:17 two-way
3. Cindy Cleveland on October 5th 1977, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 11:35:15 first leg en route to a 24:30:32 two-way
4. Dan Slosberg on September 10th 1978, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 8:50 first leg en route to a 19:32:26 two-way
5. John York on September 21st 1978, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 7:41:14 first leg en route to a 16:42:16 two-way
6. Tina Neill on July 9th 2008, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 10:40:12 first leg en route to a 22:02:46 two-way
7. Jason Betley on September 20th 2015, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 11:53:15 first leg en route to a 28:06:54 two-way
8. Courtney Moates Paulk on October 11th 2017, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 12:28:39 first leg en route to a 33:13:06 two-way
9. Graco Morlan on July 29th 2019, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 11:59:34 first leg en route to a 25:37:39 two-way
10. Antonio Argüelles on August 26th 2019, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 11:53:28 first leg en route to a 24:17:49 two-way
11. Joe Zemaitis on July 21st 2021, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 12:46:54 first leg en route to a 24:28:36 two-way
12. Steve Stievenart on June 16th 2022, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 15:51:39 first leg en route to a 28:45:48 two-way
13. Ariana Wohlstatter on October 27, 2023, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 11:28.14 first leg en route to a 24:35:18 two-way
14. Steve Stievenart on June 29th 2023, Catalina-Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 15:35:20 first leg, en route to a 16:42:46 second leg, en route to a 51:11:43 three way
15. Sidney Russell on July 2025, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland in a 13:10:05 first leg, en route to a 27:52:09 two-way

Average time = 23 hours 24 minutes

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