Courtesy of Richard Szentes of Echo TV, North Channel.
Thousands of friends and fans around the world were excited for Attila Mányoki to complete the fastest cumulative time of the Oceans Seven.
The International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame swimmer from Hungary had only one more channel to go – the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland. Hopes inside and outside his team were running high for him to set the Oceans Seven record as Attila had done much acclimatization training after his initial failed attempt in 2015 where he was pulled unconscious from the North Channel.
As he was closing in on the Scottish shore in calm, relatively warm, conditions, word spread within the channel swimming community that Attila was forced to abort his second attempt after he endured several Lion’s Mane stings and was swimming much more slowly than expected and is normal.
Hungarian media was following his progress closely and their initial positive reports was suddenly replaced with reports that his physical condition was serious – but stable – as he was rapidly transported to the intensive care unit in the Ulster Hospital in Northern Ireland.
A speedboat took Attila from his escort boat to shore when an ambulance met him. He was struggling with stomach pain for the last two hours of his attempt and could not speak upon being pulled from the water. By the time, he reached shore, his body temperature had reportedly warmed to 28.6°C (83.4°F). Upon a medical examination in the hospital, physicians determined that he swallowed a lot of salt water.
By the following morning, Attila was still in the hospital’s intensive care unit. Fighting through the jellyfish stings, his respiratory system got worse as he started to breathe in the cold North Channel water, further decreasing his core body temperature. Attila continued to swim despite his pain until his crew decided to pull him.
The video above is from Echo TV show Attila swimming at his normal speed. The lower videos show his speed towards the end of his 9-hour attempt across the North Channel.
Update from Infinity Channel Swimming at 18:00 on August 6th:
“We are pleased to report an update that Hungarian open water swimmer Attila Manyoki will make a full recovery and is sitting up, chatting and already planning for his next swim.
Atilla in his attempt to swim the North Channel on August 4th the last of his Oceans Seven swims, became unwell approximately three miles from Scottish shores and was taken to hospital where he received excellent critical care.
The North Channel is widely regarded as the most notoriously tough of the Oceans Seven sea swims in the world with Tsugaru, Catalina, Molokai, English, Cook Straits and the Strait Of Gibraltar making up the heptade.
We wish him, Monika and family our best regards for health and wellness and trust that we will see him in the water soon.”
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