Ned Denison, chairperson of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, announced Dina Levačić (@dinalevacic_swim) of Croatia as an Honor Swimmer in its Class of 2025.
The 28-year-old Levačić has been a racer, a record holder, a soloist, a public speaker, a cover girl*, and a world traveler who has achieved both the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming in 84 days in 2017 and the Oceans Seven.
After competing in her first marathon swim as a 13-year-old, the 16 km Faros Marathon Swim in her native Croatia, she started to race on the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix at 16 for 6 years, placing third overall in 2016.
2016 was her final season on the professional circuit before she transitioned to a solo marathon swimming career in 2017 where she established her niche with her ever-present smile and adventurous passion for the sport. Among her accomplishments over the last 14 years, she has swum on 6 continents and 17 countries.
- set the female speed record for the Fastnet Rock swim in Ireland
- completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming in 84 days where she received the Miss Montserrat Tresserras Trophy for A Swimmer from a New Country by the Channel Swimming Association
- completed the Original Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming in 2023
- completed the Irish Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming in 2023
- completed the Oceans Seven in 2023 which included several notable swims including the third fastest Tsugaru Channel crossing in Japan, the third fastest female Molokai Channel crossing in Hawaii, and the second fastest Strait of Gibraltar crossing from Spain to Morocco
- pioneered several new swims in the Adriatic Sea that borders Croatia while raising more than US$85,000 for children and adults with developmental disabilities, children born prematurely, and animals in shelters
Steven Munatones says, “It has been wonderful to see Dina developed from a young teenager to a competitive professional marathon swimmer to an accomplished marathon swimmer interested in challenging herself in channels around the world – from South Africa to Japan – as well as several unprecedented swims closer to her home in Croatia. She does it with a huge smile and a passion that never seems to dim. She is a true global ambassador of the sport.”
Levačić’s career is posted on the Marathon Swimmers Federation LongSwims database here.
She explains her career in her native language at the TEDxZagreb in 2019:
Oceans Seven Swimmers
- Stephen Redmond (Ireland)
- Anna Carin Nordin (Sweden)
- Michelle Macy (USA)
- Darren Miller (USA)
- Adam Walker (UK)
- Kimberley Chambers (New Zealand)
- Antonio Argüelles (Mexico)
- Ion Lazarenco Tiron (Moldavia and Ireland)
- Rohan Dattatrey More (India)
- Abhejali Bernardová (Czech Republic)
- Cameron Bellamy (South Africa)
- Lynton Mortensen (Australia)
- Thomas Pembroke (Australia)
- Nora Toledano Cadena (Mexico)
- Mariel Hawley Dávila (Mexico)
- André Wiersig (Germany)
- Elizabeth Fry (USA)
- Attila Mányoki (Hungary)
- Jonathan Ratcliffe (UK)
- Jorge Crivilles Villanueva (Spain)
- Adrian Sarchet (Guernsey)
- Prabhat Koli (India at 23 years 7 months)
- Dina Levačić (Croatia)
- Herman van der Westhuizen (South Africa)
- Andy Donaldson (Scotland in 354 days)
- Stephen Junk (Australia)
- Kieron Palframan (South Africa)
- Bárbara Hernández Huerta (Chile)
- Mark Sowerby (Australia)
- Paul Georgescu (Romania)
- Zach Margolis (USA
- Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria in 173 days)
- Nathalie Pohl (Germany)
- Caitlin O’Reilly (New Zealand at the age of 20 years 7 months)
* She appeared on the cover of @ellecroatia:
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