Avram Iancu, a multi-sport athlete and extreme stage swimmer from Petrosani, Transylvania, a landlocked town in Romania, completed a full decade challenging himself in the open bodies of water around the world on August 7th.
He is currently en route on the first leg of an English Channel two-way crossing. His tracker is here.
Iancu’s namesake was a leader of the 1848 Revolution in Romania, born 200 years ago. The year 2024 was declared by the Romanian government to be the Year of Avram Iancu. He lived between 1824 and 1872 and is considered a hero by Romanians in Transylvania.
The modern-day Iancu explains the purposeful coincidence of his attempted two-way 67 km crossing and the Year of Avram Iancu, “I have been in Dover for over a month to mark this historic moment with a special swim to live up to the anniversary moment. Today, on Wednesday August 28th at 2:40 am (UK time), I will start a double crossing of the English Channel. I will be escorted by the Sea Satin piloted by Lance Oram and Tanya Harding in a crossing organized by Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation.”
His support team includes Flavia Iancu, Andrei Dumitru, Radu Simion Ileancu, Constantin Maria, and Adrian Pascu, a team of various skills and specific roles.
A world-class stage swimmer, Iancu swam 2,860 km along the Danube River from Donaueschingen in the Black Forest in Germany to Sulina on the Black Sea in Romania, crossing ten countries and passing four capital cities in 2016. The-then 41-year-old Romanian liberian swam through dams, whirlpools, eddies and unpredictable weather accompanied by two kayakers [see documentary film above].
Follow his journey here.
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