Karolina Szczepaniak celebrated her 33rd birthday as she was preparing for her 172 km assisted marathon swim in the Baltic Sea from her native Poland to the Swedish island of Öland in a charity swim to raise money for prosthetics for three children born without arms, Emilka Piłat, Joasia Jaszczołt, and Daniel Cebula.
The two-time Polish Olympic swimmer competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics, finishing the 800m freestyle in 9:08.87 and 15th in the 800m freestyle relay.
Her swim is being livecast on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/live/XeiE299Pb4w.
Her charity page is here [https://pomagam.pl/kraulem-przez-baltyk].
Part of her training included swimming 149 km over 48 hours in a 25m pool in Warsaw, Poland in February 2025 – but the Baltic Sea is a very different venue.
The last time we recall Öland being in the Daily News of Open Water Swimming, International Marathon Swimming Hall of Famer Anna-Carin Nordin completed an unprecedented 333 km 22-day stage swim around Öland between July 28th and August 18th 2020 that took her 117 hours 5 minutes over 32 stages.
Meanwhile, Noam Yaron (27, Switzerland, @iamnoamyaron) is closing in on Monaco despite suffering from salt water tongue. After 54 hours in the water, he has completed 117 km of the planned 180 km course in fairly tranquil 27°C waters with minimal winds as of this afternoon.
© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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