On March 25th, Jaime Lomelín Gavaldón (Mexico, 61, MSF bio here) swam 23 km across the Cook Strait in New Zealand for his fifth successful Oceans Seven channel crossing.
En route to the Oceans Seven
- 35 km English Channel in 9 hours 50 minutes at the age of 27 in 1990
- 32.2 km Catalina Channel in 11 hours 53 minutes at the age of 54 in 2017
- 14.4 km Strait of Gibraltar in 3 hours 37 minutes at the age of 56 in 2019
- 45 km Molokai Channel in 13 hours 8 minutes at the age of 59 in 2022
- 23 km Cook Strait in 7+ hours
Interestingly, he crossed the 32.3 km Catalina Channel significantly faster at the age of 58 in 9 hours 56 minutes on his second attempt (which was the fastest crossing by a Mexican swimmer in history) than he did four years earlier in 11 hours 53 minutes on his first attempt.
Lomelin was the first Mexican swimmer to achieve a Sub-10 Triple Crown – or completing all three swims of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming under 10 hours (English Channel + Catalina Channel + 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan Island).
Lomelín joined Joel Matos Ortiz (Puerto Rico, 36, MSF bio here, @joelmatosultra in 7 hours 39 minutes and Virgilio Graco Morlan (Mexico, 49, MSF bio here, @gracomorlan) in 7 hours 39 minutes in a tandem swim, and Stève Stievenart (France, 47, MSF bio here, IISA bio here) on their individual successful Cook Strait crossings this week. They were escorted by Grant Orchard of Katabatic Charters.
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