When professional marathon swimmers take on crossings of the English Channel, things are just seem a bit different. You are younger, fitter, and focused on a lifestyle of training and racing. They swim fast and they feed fast. They swim close to the boat and largely swim straight from Shakespeare Beach in Dover, England to Cap Gris Nez, France.
They look at a channel crossing as a long race. They think about their pace (that is generally closer to 1 minute 10 seconds per 100 meters for 33 kilometers than it is to 1 minute 30 seconds per 100 meters). They think about how fast they will cross – instead of if they will cross. They envision records, not DNFs. A DNF is not in my vernacular or mindset. They think about what they will accomplish and what they may say to the media in post-race interviews…rather than what might happen.
Andreas Waschburger (6 hours 45 minutes, MSF bio here), Trent Grimsey (6 hours 55 minutes, MSF bio here), Petar Stoychev (6 hours 56 minutes + 7 hours 21 minutes, MSF bio here), Yuri Kudinov (7 hours 5 minutes, MSF bio here), Penny Dean (7 hours 40 minutes, MSF bio here), Yvetta Hlaváčová (7 hours 25 minutes + 7 hours 53 minutes + 8 hours 42 minutes, MSF bio here), Philip Rush (MSF bio here, 3-way in 28 hours 21 minutes), Christof Wandratsch (7 hours 3 minutes + 7 hours 20 minutes, MSF bio here), Rostislav Vítek (7 hours 16 minutes, MSF bio here), and Chad Hundeby (7 hours 17 minutes, MSF bio here) are some of the professional marathon swimmers in the recent past.
Earlier today, the Channel Swimming Association announced that the most professional marathon swimmer over the past 15 years, Ana Marcela Cunha (34, Brazil, MSF bio here, World Aquatic bio here) took a dip in the Channel and crossed in a fast time of 8 hours 25 minutes, coached by Igor de Souza (MSF bio here). The 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalist and International Marathon Swimming Hall of Famer (Class of 2019) ventured from her more familiar distances of 5 km, 10 km, and 25 km to do her first channel crossing.
She set a new South American record across the English Channel. She surpassed the women’s record time previously held by Ana Mesquita of Brazil (MSF bio here) in 9 hours 40 minutes and Adherbal de Oliveira of Brazil in 8 hours 49 minutes.
Her coach, Igor de Souza, an International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer himself (Class of 2004), also has the professional marathon swimmer mindset. In 1997, he completed a two-way crossing of the English Channel in 18 hours 33 minutes where he negative-split his swim. His first leg of 9 hours 31 minutes and his second leg of 9 hours 2 minutes were both the fastest times for Channel crossings in that year.
Fast.
© 2026 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“
World Open Water Swimming Federation, a human-powered project.