Chloe McCardel Completes 128-Kilometer Unaided Swim Across Bahamas

Australian open water marathon swimmer Chloe McCardel has broken the World Record for the longest non-current-assisted, continuous, open-water solo swim in recorded history, according to Yahoo News. Unofficially, the old record belonged to Zhang Jian at 123 kilometers, though the Houston Chronicle questioned whether that swim was documented enough to be considered a record.

Diana Nyad’s Cuba to Florida swim was longer (approximately 110 miles), but there is a strong surface current involved there, demonstrating the challenges of comparing records in open water swims. Nyad also wore a special protective wetsuit, whereas McCardel swam in just a standard-issue suit.

At any rate, the 29-year old Australian swam for 42.5 hours (just shy of Nyad’s 53-hour swim) around the Bahamas. She began at the southern tip of Eleuthera Island and wound up in Nassau.

The full GPS tracking of McCardel’s swim can be seen here.

2
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

2 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Greg Broderick
9 years ago

Great effort.

Distance Fanatic
9 years ago

So she swam the 42 hours without stopping?

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

Read More »