Marathon Swimming Federation announced the finalists for the Solo Swim of 2025, recognizing the most outstanding solo marathon swim of the year.

MSF Founder Evan Morrison explains, “The Ultraswimming Awards recognize the most outstanding achievements and contributions in marathon swimming. The awards are nominated and voted by members of the Marathon Swimmers Federation. Voting is currently open via MSF Member Portal through March 28th.“

2025 Ultraswimming Award Solo Swim of the Year Finalists

The 2025 finalists include:

• Brian Foster (Ireland) for an unprecedented three-way 61.5 km Baltimore-Fastnet-Baltimore crossing in 15 hours 48 minutes in August, ratified by Irish Long Distance Swimming Association
• Karina Garcia (USA) for a 44.3 km course record from Santa Rosa Island to California mainland crossing in 14 hours 5 minutes in September, ratified by Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association
• Victor Piñeiro (Argentina) for an unprecedented 56.3 km Isle of Man to Ireland crossing in 26 hours 48 minutes in August 2025, ratified by Irish Long Distance Swimming Association
• Andreas Waschburger (Germany) for a 34.5 km North Channel course record from Ireland to Scotland in 8 hours 11 minutes in September, ratified by Irish Long Distance Swimming Association
• Kaname Woodfield (Japan) for a 26.8 km Green Island to Cairns, Australia crossing in 10 hours 55 minutes in August 2025, ratified by Marathon Swimming Federation

History of the Ultraswimming Awards (2012 – 2024)

2012 Ultraswimming Award Winners

• Solo Swim of the Year: Tina Neill (USA) for a 52-mile crossing from San Clemente Island to the California mainland in 28 hours 41 minutes, sanctioned by the Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association
• Solo Swim of the Year: Trent Grimsey (Australia) for a new English Channel solo record in 6 hours 55 minutes, sanctioned by the Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation
• Barra Award: Grace van der Byl (USA) for a new Catalina Channel overall solo record in 7 hours 27 minutes, first swimmer to complete all seven stages of the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim, and new course records in all seven stages. Organized new local network of support personnel for Catalina Channel swimmers.

2013 Ultraswimming Award Winners

• Solo Swim of the Year: Wendy Trehiou (Jersey) for a 68 km two-way English Channel crossing from England-France-England in 39 hours 9 minutes, sanctioned by Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation and piloted by Neil Streeter
• Solo Swim of the Year: Sylvain Estadieu (Sweden & France) for an English Channel butterfly, first by a male in 16 hours 42 minutes, sanctioned by Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation and piloted by Michael Oram
• Barra Award: Sarah Thomas (USA) for first two-way lake crossings of Lake Tahoe and Lake Memphremagog; Tahoe 68km in 22 hours 35 minutes at 6,200 feet elevation + Memphremagog 80.5km in 30 hours 1 minute, only six weeks after Tahoe. Additionally Arizona S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge – Saguaro (9.5 miles in 3 hours 13 minutes) + Canyon (9 miles in 2 hours 51 minutes) + Apache (16 miles in 5 hours 22 minutes) + Roosevelt (10 km in 2 hours 38 minutes)
• Barra Award: Darren Miller (USA) for Cook Strait in 10 hours 42 minutes and North Channel in 11 hours 16 minutes. First American man to complete Oceans Seven and first to complete all seven in seven attempts. Arizona S.C.A.R. Swims: Apache Lake (16 miles in 6 hours 20 minutes) + Roosevelt Lake (10 km in 3 hours 9 minutes), pioneered the Three Rivers Marathon Swim and supported major training swims for Janet Manning, Jim Clifford, and Bill Shipp. Founder and Executive Director of Team Forever and the Forever Fund, a charitable organization benefiting the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

2014 Ultraswimming Award Winners

• Solo Swim of the Year: Chloë McCardel (Australia) for a 124.4 km unprecedented swim from South Eleuthera Island to Nassau, Bahamas in 41 hours 21 minutes. New world record for the longest unassisted ocean swim
• Solo Swim of the Year: Craig Lenning (USA) for the first solo swim from the Farallon Islands to the California mainland since 1967, 41.4 km in 15 hours 47 minutes on 8 April
• Barra Award: Charlotte Samuels (USA) for being the youngest person (16 years) to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 9 hours 55 minutes on 28 June, Catalina Channel in 20 hours 20 minutes on 4 August, English Channel in 20 hours 44 minutes on 8 September
• Barra Award: Mo Siegel (USA) for his Alcatraz and Golden Gate Bridge Swims, Arizona S.C.A.R. Swim Challenge (Saguaro, Canyon, and Apache), 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim (Stages 3 and 4), Manhattan Island Marathon Swim two-person relay, Boston Light Swim, Swim Across The Sound, Skaneateles Lake (16 miles in 9 hours 21 minutes, Lake Willoughby in Vermont, Manhattan Island Marathon Relays, and Coney Island Triple Dip.
• Service to Marathon Swimming Award: Neil van der Byl and Grace van der Byl (USA) for their support of Catalina and Santa Barbara Channel swimmers and founding the Southern California Open-Water Swim Support Network
• Yudovin Award for Most Adventurous Swim: Peter Hayden (USA) for a 37.7 km Anacapa Island around and back swim, first circumnavigation of Anacapa Island (11 miles in 5 hours 41 minutes, then back to the mainland without stopping (12.4 miles in 6 hours 59 minutes on 3 September, sanctioned by Santa Barbara Channel Swimming Association

2015 Ultraswimming Award Winners

• Solo Swim of the Year: Chloë McCardel (Australia) for a three-way 101.4 km English Channel swim in 36 hours 12 minutes
• Solo Swim of the Year: Jason Betley (United Kingdom) for a two-way 64.6 km Catalina Channel swim in 28 hours 10 minutes
• Barra Award for Best Overall Year: Bridgette Hobart (USA) for a 19.7 km Rottnest Channel Swim, 251 km stage swim of the 9 Finger Lakes of New York, 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim
• Barra Award for Best Overall Year: Craig Lenning (USA) for a 35 km length of Loch Ness, Scotland, first man to swim 45 km length of Flathead Lake, Montana, 40 km Lake Memphremagog, Vermont, 24-Hour Relay in San Francisco, International Ice Swimming Championship 1000m swim. Crew and mentor to numerous marathon swimmers.
• Barra Award for Best Overall Year: Mark Sheridan (United Kingdom) for English Channel, Catalina Channel. S.C.A.R. Swim, Arizona across Saguaro, Canyon, Apache, Roosevelt lakes, Committee Member and Race Director, British Long Distance Swimming Association. Competed in BLDSA Swims.
• Service to Marathon Swimming Award: Dan Simonelli (USA) for observer, kayaker, and crew for 27 Catalina Channel swims in 2015, crew for one of Chloë McCardel’s English Channel swims, coach and coordinator of youth relay swims of Catalina Channel, English Channel, and Santa Barbara Channel, coach of two solo Catalina swimmers, team Captain, David Yudovin Memorial Catalina Channel Relays, president of the La Jolla Cove Swim Club, lifetime member & voting member of the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation, voting member of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, Founder of the Open Water Swim Academy
• Yudovin Award for Most Adventurous Swim: Wendy Trehiou (Jersey, United Kingdom) for 56.3 km crossing from St. Malo, France to Jersey, United Kingdom in 24 hours 25 minutes
• Relay of the Year: The Old Men and the Sea (USA) for oldest relay team by combined age to swim the 32.3 km Catalina Channel including Bill Spore (80), Dave Radcliff (81), Graham Johnston (84), Robert Beach (84), Bob Best (80), Don Baker (84), Norm Stupfel (82) in 12 hours 15 minutes

2016 Ultraswimming Award Winners

• Solo Swim of the Year: Sarah Thomas (USA) for a 129 km swim in Lake Powell from Bullfrog, Utah to Wahweap, Arizona, the longest known nonstop, solo, unassisted, current-neutral swim in any body of water
• Solo Swim of the Year: Howard James (Great Britain) for a new record for earliest English Channel swim in the calendar year in 13 hours 13 minutes on May 16th, breaking the previous record of Kevin Murphy on May 29th 1990, he also set the record for latest English Channel swim on 3 November
• Barra Award for Best Overall Year: Jaimie Monahan (USA) for marathon swims in Lake Geneva, Switzerland (69 km from Geneva to Montreux, first to swim in both directions); 50 km in Lake Como, Italy; 52 km in Lake George, New York; 27 km Lago d’Orta, Italy; 30 km around Absecon Island, Atlantic City, New Jersey; 46 km around Manhattan Island; 8 Bridges Stage 7; and the 27 km Rose Pitonof Swim. Also completed a 4.6-mile swim in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia, an Ice Mile in Iceland, and was overall winner of the International Winter Swimming Association World Cup. Currently serves as President of the Lake Geneva Swimming Association
• Barra Award for Best Overall Year: Dan Simonelli (USA) for a Catalina Channel crossing in January, the same day as the first Catalina swimmer, George Young and the English Channel on 25 August, coordinator and member of the Out, Around, & Back relay between Catalina and Santa Barbara Islands, member of two Catalina Channel relays, including a new CCSF-record mixed relay, continued extensive work in support of fellow marathon swimmers, kayaked all four days of S.C.A.R. in Arizona, coached the Arch Academy Zombies team on numerous open-water relays, and coached, crewed, and observed for numerous solo swimmers and relays, serves as a voting member of IMSHOF and CCSF, and as President of the La Jolla Cove Swim Club
• Service to Marathon Swimming Award: David Barra, Rondi Davies, and Alex Arevalo of New York Open Water (USA) for founding New York Open Water and initiating 20 Bridges, a new iteration of the historically important swim around Manhattan. In its inaugural season, NYOW organized the 6th edition of the 8 Bridges Hudson River Swim, the 5th edition of the 2 Bridges Swim, the inaugural Spuyten Duyvil 10K, and 22 solo Manhattan Island circumnavigations over three days. NYOW’s first sanctioned Manhattan swims are particularly notable given the recent uncertainty about the swim’s future

2017 Ultraswimming Award Winners

• Solo Swim of the Year: Sarah Thomas (USA) for a 168.3 km swim in Lake Champlain in New York/Vermont, USA, Gardiner Island loop from Rouses Point, New York, ratified by Marathon Swimming Federation as a new world distance record
• Barra Award for Most Prolific Year: Abigail Fairman (USA) for swimming SCAR (all 4 stages), 8 Bridges (all 7 stages), Kingdom Swim Border Buster 25K, Rose Pitonof Swim, Lake George 10K, Bender Memorial Swim, 3 Rivers Marathon Swim, Swim Around Charleston, and Bermuda Round-the-Sound
• Barra Award for Most Prolific Year: Stephen Rouch (USA) for swimming SCAR (all 4 stages), 8 Bridges (all 7 stages), Chattanooga Swim Festival, Kingdom Swim Border Buster 25K, Swim to the Moon, 3 Rivers Marathon Swim, Swim the Suck
• Service to Marathon Swimming Award: Andrew Malinak (USA) for co-founding and leading the Northwest Open Water Swimming Association (2015 to present), and for piloting Sarah Thomas’ world-record Lake Champlain swim in August 2017
• Yudovin Award for Most Adventurous Swim: Jaimie Monahan (USA) for the first unassisted 59.6 km swim of the length of Lago Maggiore, Tenero-Contra, Switzerland to Sesto Calende, Italy in 24 hours 2 minutes, ratified by Marathon Swimmers Federation

2018 Ultraswimming Award Winners

• Solo Swim of the Year: Cameron Bellamy (South Africa) for the first 90 km circumnavigation of Barbados in 40 hours 46 minutes on 11-13 November 2018, organized and observed by Barbados Amateur Swimming Association
• Barra Award: Martyn Webster (Great Britain) for crossings of the English Channel, Strait of Gibraltar, Lake Zurich (2x), Walensee, Loch Lomond, Loch Awe
• Service to Marathon Swimming Award: Lynn Kubasek (USA) for observing 56 marathon swims, supported 25 swimmers as either kayaker or feeder, spent countless hours videotaping, editing and chronicling 84 different marathon swims, served on the board of directors for SBCSA since 2009 and as associate director of Swim Camp Catalina and Swim Camp Mexico since 2014, co-founded Laguna Beach Open Water Swimmers which grew from 3 swimmers in 1987 to over 350 swimmers, made over 9000 bars of soap as gifts for swimmers
• Yudovin Award for Most Adventurous Swim: Colleen Blair (Great Britain) for fthe irst 37.3 km North Minch swim in 18 hours 46 minutes on 8 July 2018, Isle of Lewis to mainland Scotland, ratified by British Long Distance Swimming Association
• Monahan Award: Caroline Block (USA) for maximum eight swims in four years: English Channel, 20 Bridges (Manhattan), Lake George, Cayuga Lake, Santa Barbara Channel (Santa Rosa Island to Goleta), and 3 North Channel swims

2019 Ultraswimming Award Winners

• Solo Swim of the Year: Sarah Thomas (USA) for a four-way 132 km English Channel (England-France-England-France-England), first in 54 hours 10 minutes on 15-17 September 2019, ratified by Channel Swimming & Piloting Federation, world record, longest open water swim of a multi-way route, 38 years after first three-way crossing by Jon Erikson, 58 years after first two-way crossing by Antonio Abertondo, and 144 years after first one-way crossing by Matthew Webb
• Barra Award: John Batchelder (USA) for 370 km total distance in 2019. SCAR (all 4 stages), 8 Bridges (6 stages before 7th canceled), Capri-Napoli, Lake Tahoe length, Lac Massawippi 2-way, Lake Willoughby all-butterfly, Horsetooth 10K all-backstroke.
• Barra Award: Sandra Frimerman-Bergquist (USA) for unique involvement in pro races, amateur races, and solo swims. Lac St-Jean, Capri-Napoli, St. Lucia Channel (4th and fastest person), END-WET (4th consecutive win), and numerous other swims
• Barra Award: Stephen Rouch (USA) for 8 Bridges Stage 5 Great Bays, Atlantic City Around-the-Island, Lake Memphremagog 2-way in 25 hours, a new course record, Swim the Suck (1st place), Lac Massawippi (1st place)
• Barra Award: Sarah Thomas (USA) for a four-way English Channel, the greatest athletic achievement of 2019, plus Cook Strait, Round-Trip Angel Island in a new women’s record), Blue Mesa Reservoir 2-way at 7520-feet elevation.
• Barra Award: John Zemaitis (USA) for a North Channel crossing, Monterey Bay (first male), three channels of Maui Nui triangle (Kalohi, Pailolo, Au’au), Sea of Galilee 2-way, Tampa Bay Marathon course, most swims completed in tandem with brother Joe
• Service to Marathon Swimming Award (2019-2020): Phil White (USA) for being the founder of Kingdom Games and Northeast Kingdom Open Water Swimming Association

2024 Ultraswimming Award Winners

• Solo Swim of the Year: Amy Appelhans Gubser (USA) for first Golden Gate Bridge to the Farallon Islands crossing in the outbound direction, 47.7 km in 17 hours 3 minutes 48 seconds on 11 May, observed by Ken Mignosa and ratified by Marathon Swimmers Federation
• Solo Swim of the Year Runner-Up: Brian Foster (Ireland) for a two-way North Channel, first male to complete a two-way solo, ratified by ILDSA
• Yudovin Award for Most Adventurous Swim: Simone Blaser (Australia) for Upper Ord River, Western Australia in 16 hour 13 minutes on 14-15 September 2024, observed and documented by Ane Hagen, ratified by Marathon Swimmers Federation
• Yudovin Award for Most Adventurous Swim Runner-Up: Jessica Kieras for a 81.7 km swim around Mission Peninsula in Grand Traverse Bay, Michigan, ratified by Marathon Swimmers Federation

© 2026 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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