Chloe McCardel Successfully Completes Her 35th English Channel Crossing

Australian swimmer Chloe McCardel, 35, has moved into 2nd place on the all-time list for most English Channel crossings after successfully completing her 35th swim on Sunday.

With that race, she jumps Kevin Murphy, who holds the record for most crossings by a man, for 2nd on the all-time list. Only Alison Streeter, known as “the Queen of the English Channel,” has more – having crossed 43 times.

This swim, however, came with a special backdrop of the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic. While the Channel Swimming Association, the organization that officially sanctions and approves English Channel crossings, approved her swim, she was told that crossings were allowed so long as she practiced social distancing when she arrived in France and didn’t stay on the shore for more than 10 minutes.

This wasn’t an issue for McCardel, who usually isn’t on shore for long. She usually finishes her swims in a rocky area near Cap Gris-Nez that is inaccessible to people on land. Once landing, she swam back out to her support boat that drove her back across the channel to the UK.

This also allows her to avoid border checkpoints or passport control, as well as the mandatory quarantine orders in place in the UK.

She also had to receive special dispensation from the Australian government to travel to the UK for her record attempt in spite of the fact that Australia has strictly closed its borders in an effort to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

McCardel completed the approximately 21 mile swim from Abbot’s Cliff beach near Folkestone, UK in about 11 hours. She swam overnight, leaving the UK at 20:00 local time and arriving in France at 7:00 in the morning.

The fastest ever single-swim crossing by a woman was done in 2006 by Yvetta Hlavacova, who did the crossing in 7 hours and 25 minutes.

McCardel, who has swum the English Channel more than any other Australian, holds the world record for single Channel crossings, eight, in a season (2016). McCardel also became the fourth person and only Australian to complete a triple non-stop crossing of the Channel in 2015. In addition, she holds the world record for the longest unassisted ocean swim, which took place in the Bahamas in 2014, swimming 124.4 kilometers or 77.3 miles.

While the English Channel is not the longest open water swim in the world, it is considered to be an iconic swim – in part because of the historical and geographical significance, and in part because of the unique challenges of the swim. That includes waves in excess of 2 meters in height and especially cold water. It is also one of the busiest shipping channels in the world.