Marathon Swimming Records - First Swims

"Records are made to be broken; but the first is always the first." - David Yudovin


Listed below are the first man and first woman to swim significant marathon swim routes.

Jump to: English Channel , Catalina Channel , Manhattan , Strait of Gibraltar , North Channel , Kaiwi Channel , Cook Strait , Tsugaru Strait , Bristol Channel , Río de la Plata , False Bay , Foveaux Strait , Gulf of the Farallones , Jersey to France , Lake Geneva , Lake George .

Bold listings = first overall.


English Channel

First men and women to swim English Channel
Route First
Female Male
England to France

Florence Chadwick
16:19
1951 Sep 10

Matthew Webb
21:45
1875 Aug 25
France to England

Gertrude Ederle
14:39
1926 Aug 6

Enrico Tiroboschi
16:33
1923 Aug 12

2-way, England-France-England

Cindy Nicholas
19:55
1977 Sep 7

Antonio Abertondo
43:10
1961 Sep 20
3-way, England-France-England-France

Alison Streeter
34:40
1990 Aug 2

Jon Erikson
38:27
1981 Aug 11

Catalina Channel

First men and women to swim Catalina Channel
Route First
Female Male
Catalina to Mainland

Myrtle Huddleston
20:42
1927 Feb 5

George Young
15:44
1927 Jan 15
Mainland to Catalina

Daisy Murchie
15:40
1956 Sep 2

Jose Cortinas
32:10
1953 Oct 2

2-way, Catalina-Mainland-Catalina Greta Andersen
26:53
1958 Oct 5

Forrest Nelson
23:01
2010 Aug 16

2-way, Mainland-Catalina-Mainland

Cindy Cleveland
24:30
1977 Oct 5

Daniel Slosberg
19:32
1978 Sep 10

Manhattan

First men and women to swim Manhattan
Route First
Female Male
Counter-clockwise circumnavigation

Ida Elionsky
11:35
1916 Sep 24

Robert Dowling
13:45
1915 Sep 5
Clockwise circumnavigation

Elizabeth Fry
11:44
2009 Sep 18

Kris Rutford
17:48
1995 Aug 12

Double circumnavigation Julie Ridge
21:02
1983 Jul 11

Skip Storch
20:09
2007 Aug 29

Triple circumnavigation Stacy Chanin
33:29
1984 Aug 29

Skip Storch
32:52
2007 Aug 29

Strait of Gibraltar

First men and women to swim Strait of Gibraltar
Route First
Female Male
Europe to Africa Mercedes Gleitze
12:50
1928 Apr 05

Daniel Maciotti
9:20
1948 Jul 22

2-way, Europe-Africa-Europe

Penny Palfrey
8:27
2010 Jun 03

Mateo Pesquer Campos
7:55
2006 Aug 04

2-way, Africa-Europe-Africa Maria Cabañero Sánchez
10:58
1990 Sep 21

Gustavo Oriozabala
13:42
1994 Aug 29

North Channel

First men and women to swim North Channel
Route First
Female Male
Ireland to Scotland

Alison Streeter
9:53
1988 Aug 22

Thomas Blower
15:26
1947 Jul 27
Scotland to Ireland

Alison Streeter
10:04
1989 Aug 25

Kevin Murphy
17:17
1989 Sep 07

Kaiwi Channel

First men and women to swim Kaiwi Channel
Route First
Female Male
Molokai to Oahu

Linda Kaiser
15:00
2007 Sep 01

Keo Nakama
15:30
1961 Sep 01
Oahu to Molokai



Harry Huffaker
16:15
1972 Sep 01

Cook Strait

First men and women to swim Cook Strait
Route First
Female Male
North Island to South Island

Lynne Cox
12:07
1975 Feb 04

Barrie Devenport
11:20
1962 Nov 20
South Island to North Island

Meda McKenzie
11:23
1978 Feb 17

Perry Cameron
9:36
1972 Jan 12

North-South-North

Meda McKenzie
23:06
1984 Mar 26

Philip Rush
16:16
1984 Mar 13
South-North-South



Philip Rush
18:37
1988 Feb 09

Tsugaru Strait

First men and women to swim Tsugaru Strait
Route First
Female Male
Honshu to Hokkaido

Miyuki Fujita
11:36
2005

David Yudovin
13:10
1990 Jul 07
Hokkaido to Honshu

Penny Palfrey
14:30
2011 Sep 20

Steven Munatones
6:39
1990 Jul 30

Bristol Channel

First men and women to swim Bristol Channel
Route First
Female Male
Wales to England Kathleen Thomas
7:20
1927 Sep 05

Gerald Forsberg
5:40
1964

England to Wales

Jenny James
10:05
1948

Harry Luscombe
9:03
1929

Río de la Plata

First men and women to swim Río de la Plata
Route First
Female Male
Uruguay to Argentina Lilian Harrison
24:19
1923 Dec 22

Luis Garramendy
25:12
1924 Jan 19

Argentina to Uruguay



Darwin Scrolloni
21:18
2003 Mar 06

False Bay

First men and women to swim False Bay
Route First
Female Male
Cape Hangklip to Cape Peninsula Annemie Landmeters
9:56
1989 Jan 30

Steven Klugman
14:18
2004 Feb 15

Foveaux Strait

First men and women to swim Foveaux Strait
Route First
Female Male
South Island to Stewart Island

Meda McKenzie
14:00
1979 Mar 20

John van Leeuwen
13:36
1963 Feb 07
Stewart Island to South Island

Chloe Harris
8:30
2016 Feb 01

Simon Olliver
8:53
2017 Feb 19

Gulf of the Farallones

First men and women to swim Gulf of the Farallones
Route First
Female Male
Farallon Islands to Mainland



Stewart Evans
13:44
1967 Aug 27
Farallon Islands to Golden Gate Bridge

Kimberley Chambers
17:12
2015 Aug 08

Ted Erikson
14:38
1967 Sep 17

Jersey to France

First men and women to swim Jersey to France
Route First
Female Male
Jersey to France Denize Le Pennec
9:25
1966

David Minty
8:45
1978

2-way, Jersey-France-Jersey



Andy Truscott
16:39
2017

Lake Geneva

First men and women to swim Lake Geneva
Route First
Female Male
Montreux to Geneva

Vedika Karin Bolliger
42:41
1999 Jul 31

Alain Charmey
22:43
1986 Aug 01
Geneva to Montreaux

Jaimie Monahan
28:36
2016 Sep 01



Lake George

First men and women to swim Lake George
Route First
Female Male
Ticonderoga to Lake George Village Diane Struble
35:30
1958 Aug 23

Bill Stevens
31:27
1962

Lake George Village to Ticonderoga

Jaimie Monahan
21:13
2016 Aug 07



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