The race to become the first human in history to become a dual Oceans Seven swimmer and Seven Summitter has been quietly been held over the last several years. Who will become the first to achieve the Double Sevens?

Bogusław Ogrodnik (60, Poland, MSF bio here, IISA bio here) has completed the Seven Summits and has completed six of the seven Oceans Seven channels. Ogrodnik experienced a DNF across the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland in 2024 and was weathered out in 2025, but he has a North Channel attempt scheduled for the upcoming 2026 season.

American Rob Lea (45, USA, MSF bio here, @rob.lea) has completed the Seven Summits and now has completed six of the Oceans Seven with his 14 hour 35 minute crossing of the 45 km Molokai Channel on June 23rd. Lea is now on his way to northern Japan for his remaining Tsugaru Channel attempt scheduled for July.

A former high school and college sprinter and former professional triathlete, Lea upped his endurance game when he dreamed of the Ultimate World Triathlon in 2019 – and ultimately became the first and only person to complete a Calendar Year Peak and Pond which is a solo completion of a crossing of the English Channel and a summit of Mount Everest. He also completed the summiting of the Mount Everest and the English Channel crossing – a tough climb and crawl only 45 days apart. He swam with black toe nails across the English Channel.

He wrote about his latest accomplishment, “My sixth of the Oceans Seven is done: the Ka’iwi Channel, 45 km of open ocean with nothing but a Speedo, a cap, and goggles. Nutrition thrown to me in a bottle. There’s no dock on Molokai, so my mom and Caroline swam out to the boat in the pitch dark with no lights, because lights draw sharks. I was covered head to toe in zinc, pink on the face, Shark Band and Shark Shield on the boat.

This one has to be swum in daylight. Cookiecutter sharks bit 3 of 9 swimmers over the summer attempting it at night, even under full moons.

The currents at the finish nearly broke me. I felt like I was drowning. I had nothing left. And then I stepped onto dry land in Oahu. I ended up in the hospital with swimming-induced pulmonary edema but made a full recovery.

Now the last one. I fly to Japan tomorrow for the Tsugaru Channel, 7 of 7. The final piece of the Oceans Seven, and the swim that completes the Seven Summits + Oceans Seven double.“

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