Courtesy of WOWSA, Manhattan Island, New York.
While each and every entrant in the 20 Bridges Manhattan Island Swim has a fascinating back story, it was Australian teenager Ned Wieland from North Bondi, Sydney, Australia who became the youngest male to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.
Similar to American teenager Charlotte Samuels who became a Triple Crowner at the age of 16 in 2014, Indian teenager Prabhat Koli at the age of 17 in 2017, Australian teenager Lachlan Hinds at the age of 18 in 2013, and Australia teenager Benjamin Freeman at the age of 19 in 2017, Wieland completed the three swim at the precocious age of 16.
Wieland won the Channel Swimming Association Gold Medal for the Fastest Swim of the Year across the English Channel from England to France in 9 hours 45 minutes in 2017 and the Graeme Thompson Trophy for being the Youngest Successful Swimmer at 16 years 10 days.
Earlier this month, he completed a crossing of the Catalina Channel from Santa Catalina Island to the Southern California mainland in a similarly fast crossing of 9 hours 8 minutes. And he finished up his Triple Crown with an 8 hour 21 minute circumnavigation swim around Manhattan Island.
With his Triple Crown swims, Wieland is raising money for suicide awareness for a charity called R U Ok? To date, he has raised more than $43,000 [the link is here].
20 Bridges June 30th Results
1. Nathalie Pohl (24, Marburg, Germany) 8:12:39
2. Ned Wieland (16, Sydney, Australia) 8:21:51
3. Luca Pozzi (33, San Francisco, California) 8:21:57
4. Samuel Vidal Fernandez (37, Alicante, Spain) 8:48:27
5. Rene Martínez Saenz (37, Mexico City) 8:59:36
6. Jenny Smith (44, Chattanooga, Tennessee) 8:52:32
7. Peter Dolnik (52, Slovakia) 9:17:49
8. Melissa Kegler (36, Redmond, Washington) 9:24:17
9. Peter Lofquist (56, Mesa, Arizona) 9:40:07
10. Ingrid Bon (48, Boca Raton, Florida) 9:50:22
11. Kate Robarts (57, Newquay Cornwall, UK) 10:09:56
12. Kamil Resa Alsaran (57, Istanbul, Turkey) 10:15:45
12. Ragip Vural Tandoğan (54, Istanbul, Turkey) 10:15:45
14. Pat Gallant-Charette (67, Westbrook, Maine) 10:53:27
DNF Zoe Sadler (45, Bramley, Tadley Hampshire, UK) aborted at 6:21:53
DNF Dongho Choi (53, Princeton, New Jersey) aborted at 7:30:32
For more information on the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, visit here.
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