Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
On July 17th, Hamza Bakircioglu of Turkey finally achieved his goal in successfully completing a 64 km lengthwise crossing of the Bodensee between Germany and Austria.
His fourth attempt took him 30 hours 45 minutes in the 21°C water.
It was a long time coming as his previous three attempts were as follows:
*2015 DNF in 2015 after 26.5 hours and 51 km due to shoulder pain
*2014 DNF in 2014 after 27 hours and 60 km due to oncoming flow and a storm
*2013 DNF in 2013 after 26.5 hours and 56 km due to a thunderstorm
“It was for me the most difficult swimming event I have ever experienced,” the 44-year-old Turkish open water swimmer. “I am very happy that it has taken a good end. I’m doing as far very good.”
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