Yuko Matsuzaki (63, Japan, MSF bio here) of Tokyo, Japan traveled throughout Europe, the Americas, and Asia between 1988 and 2008 doing a variety of solo marathon swims and professional races. Her longest swim was a 83 km 33 hour 24 minute swim in Florida in 2008.
With several dozens of swims and adventures – many hilarious and some scary – under her swim cap, she wrote a well-received book in Japanese called Marathon Swimming, My Fun Journey. She talked about her first professional marathon swim at the 1989 36.6 km Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli in Italy below on the old FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit.
Ayaka Matsushita’s Fun Journey
Following a similar path to Matsuzaki, Ayaka Matsushita (@aya0424m) of Kanagawa Prefecture is also thoroughly enjoying her career as a competitive marathon swimmer and a solo channel adventurer.
The former Japanese national team member started with Ocean Navi and did a 21 km relay swim from Enoshima to Jogashima in eastern Japan with teammates Tomonari Ogino, Chika Nishibori, Miho Yonezawa, Syuji Nao, Kumiko Koizumi, Minori Tanaka, Toshihiko Manabe, Yasuko Takeda, and Satoko Murata in 2020. Two years later, she crossed the 19.5 km Tsugaru Channel in northern Japan in 10 hours 59 minutes. Earlier this year, On 22 February 2025, she completed the 19.7 km Rottnest Channel Swim in Western Australia in 4 hours 45 minutes 39 seconds, the 7th woman and 20th overall.
Now she has set her sights on the Oceans Seven and booked her crossings in the 32.3 km Catalina Channel in California, the 45 km Molokai Channel in Hawaii, and the 23 km Cook Strait in New Zealand for 2026.
She customizes t-shirts for her support team and calls her “Umionna” or “sea woman”.
© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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