# List of successful English Channel swimmers

This is a list of notable successful swims across the English Channel, a straight-line distance of at least 18.2 nautical miles (20.9 mi; 33.7 km).

## First attempts
### First unaided attempt by J. B. Johnson

The first attempt to cross the channel with no artificial aid was made by the 23 year old J. B. Johnson on 30 August 1872. Johnson hired a brass band in Dover to hype up his attempt, and entertained the crowd for three hours at Dover before diving in and starting his swim.
Johnson swam for 45 minutes, before having a quick break to swig some brandy. He then continued until he had swum for 1 hour, before having another break to drink even more brandy. After 1 hour and 20 minutes, Johnson boarded the boat because the cold water was too much for him to handle. Despite this, the boat continued on to Calais, where Johnson jumped off the boat and swam to shore. The crowd waiting for him believed Johnson had swum the channel, and Johnson briefly entertained this idea. However, later he said that he never intended to swim the whole channel, and that it was all a stunt for publicity.

### First successful crossing

The first successful attempt was by Paul Boyton, wearing a rubber survival suit designed for passengers of sinking ships. On 28 May 1875, on his second attempt, he entered the water at Cap Gris-Nez at 03:00, accompanied by the Prince Ernest and captained by Edward Dane. By 06:00, Boyton was 5 miles from the French coast, and at 11:45, he was halfway. At 18:30, Boyton was 4 miles from Dover, and by 02:30, he had landed at Fan Bay, near the Port of Dover. He completed the swim in around 231⁄2 hours. The press began to portray him as a rival of endurance swimmer Matthew Webb.

### First unaided successful crossing by Matthew Webb

Matthew Webb made the crossing without the aid of artificial buoyancy. His first attempt ended in failure, but on 25 August 1875, he started from Admiralty Pier in Dover and made the crossing in 21 hours and 45 minutes, despite challenging tides (which delayed him for 5 hours) and a jellyfish sting.

### Second successful crossing by Thomas Burgess

80 failed attempts were made by a variety of people before Thomas William Burgess, on 6 September 1911, became the second person to make the crossing. He crossed from Dover to Cap Gris Nez in 22 hours and 35 minutes at his 16th bid. Burgess ate a hearty meal of ham and eggs before starting his swim. He had only trained for 18 hours beforehand, and his longest practice swim was only 10 kilometres (6 mi).

### Other early crossings

Henry Sullivan was successful at his seventh attempt, becoming the third person, and the first American, to make the crossing. He entered the water in Dover at 4:20 on Sunday afternoon, 5 August 1923. Choppy waters and capricious tides forced him to swim an estimated 90 kilometres (56 mi). He reached shore at Calais at 8:05 pm on 6 August, finishing in 27 hours and 45 minutes. Two other swimmers completed the swim that same summer. Enrique Tirabocchi, from Argentina, completed the swim on 13 August, finishing in a record time of 16 hours and 33 minutes and the first person to swim the route starting from France. American Charles Toth of Boston completed the swim on 9 September 1923, in 16 hours and 40 minutes, two days after the expiration of a £1,000 prize offered by the Daily Sketch for anyone who completed the swim, a prize that both Sullivan and Tirabocchi received from a representative of the Daily Sketch waiting on the shore with a cheque in hand.

### First crossings by women

American Gertrude Ederle's successful cross-channel swim began at Gris Nez in France at 07:05 am on 6 August 1926. Her trainer was Burgess. She came ashore at Kingsdown, Kent, England, in a total time of 14 hours and 39 minutes, making her the first woman to complete the crossing and setting the record for the fastest time, breaking the previous mark set by Tirabocchi by almost two hours. A reporter from The New York Times, who had accompanied Ederle's support team on a tugboat, recounted that Ederle was confronted by a British immigration official, who recorded the biographical details of Ederle and the individuals on board the ship, none of whom had been carrying their passports. Ederle was finally allowed to come ashore, after promising that she would report to the authorities the following morning.
L. Walter Lissberger financed the $3,000 in expenses that Amelia Gade Corson and her husband incurred in preparing for the Channel swim. Lissberger made a wager with Lloyd's of London betting that she would succeed in crossing the Channel, and received a payout of $100,000 at odds of 20–1 when she completed her swim. She was one of three swimmers who were trying to make the swim across the Channel at the same time starting at 11:32 at night on 28 August 1926, leaving from Cape Gris Nez. The two men with her failed, Egyptian swimmer Ishak Helmy dropping out after three hours and an English swimmer failing one mile (1.6 km) from Dover's Shakespeare Cliffs. With her husband rowing alongside in a dory and providing her with hot chocolate, sugar lumps and crackers, she completed the swim in a time of 15 hours and 29 minutes, one hour longer than the record set by Gertrude Ederle three weeks earlier.
Jackie Cobell had intended to make the crossing by a more direct route in July 2010, but inadvertently set the record for the slowest solo swim, when strong currents forced her to swim a total of 105 kilometres (65 mi) in 28 hours and 44 minutes.

## First swims

| Direction | Country of origin | Swimmer | Year | Time | Notes |
| England to France | United Kingdom | Matthew Webb | 1875 | 21:45 | First ever unaided crossing; swam from England to France on 25 August 1875. |
| England to France | United Kingdom | Bill Burgess | 1911 | 22:35 | Second crossing from England to France on 6 September 1911. |
| England to France | United States | Henry Sullivan | 1923 | 26:50 | Third crossing from England to France; first American to swim across the English Channel. |
| France to England | Italy Argentina | Enrique Tirabocchi | 1923 | 16:33 | First crossing from France to England. First Italian/Argentine. |
| France to England | United States | Charles Toth | 1923 | 16:54 | Fifth crossing. |
| France to England | United States | Gertrude Ederle | 1926 | 14:39 | First woman to cross in either direction. |
| France to England | Denmark | Amelia Gade Corson | 1926 | 15:32 | Second woman and first mother. |
| France to England | Germany | Ernst Vierkötter | 1926 | 12:40 | Eighth crossing. |
| France to England and England to France | United Kingdom | Edward H. Temme | 1934 | 15:34 | Ninth and first man to swim the English Channel in both directions. He swam from France to England in August 1927 and from England to France on 18 August 1934. |

## National firsts

| Direction | Country of origin | Swimmer | Year | Time | Notes |
| England to France | United Kingdom | Matthew Webb | 1875 | 21:45 | First British person and man to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | United States | Henry Sullivan | 1923 | 26:50 | First American person and man to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | United States | Gertrude Ederle | 1926 | 14:39 | First American woman to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | France | Georges Michel | 1926 | 11:05 | First French person and man to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | United Kingdom | Mercedes Gleitze | 1927 | 15:15 | First British woman to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | South Africa | Margaret ('Peggy') Duncan | 1930 | 16:17 | First known person from Southern Africa to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | Sweden | Sally Bauer | 1939 | 15:22 | First Swede, and first Scandinavian, to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Belgium | Fernand Du Moulin | 1949 | 12:59 | First Belgian person and man to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | Canada | Winnie Leuszler | 1951 | 13:25 | First Canadian to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Netherlands | Jan van Hemsbergen | 1951 | 14:03 | First Dutch person and man to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | United Kingdom | Jenny James | 1951 | 13:55 | First Welsh person to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Mexico | Damian Pizá Beltran | 1953 | 15:23 | First Mexican to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Syria | Mohamed El Soussi | 1954 | 17:55 | First Syrian person and man to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | Canada | Jacques Amyot | 1956 | 13:02 | First Canadian man to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | Bangladesh | Brojen Das | 1958 | 10:35 | First Asian (from Bikrampur, East Pakistan; now Bangladesh) to swim the English Channel, at the English Channel Swimming Competition in 1958. Das became a Bangladeshi citizen after the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. |
| England to France | India | Mihir Sen | 1958 | 14:45 | First Indian to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | Brazil | Abilio Couto | 1958 | 12:45 | First South American to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | Southern Rhodesia | Dennis Pearson | 1959 | 15:36 | The second known person, and first man, from Southern Africa to swim the Channel. Pearson, from Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, swam across on Bastille Day, 14 July 1959. |
| France to England | India | Arati Saha | 1959 | 14:20 | First Indian woman and first Asian woman to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | Macedonia | Niko Nestor | 1959 | 12:06 | First Macedonian to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | Netherlands | Mary Kok | 1960 | 24:25 | First Dutch woman to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | South Africa | Peter Bales | 1969 | 13:38 | Second person, and first man, from South Africa to swim the English Channel. He was the third person from Southern Africa to complete the swim. |
| France to England | Macedonia | Atina Bojadži | 1969 | 13:20 | First Macedonian woman to swim the English Channel. |
| France to England | United Kingdom | Ray Cossum | 1970 | 13:41 | First Irishman to swim the English Channel. (Cossum was born in Kent and moved to Derry, Northern Ireland as a teenager.) He worked as a saturation diver and claimed to be the only person to have crossed the Channel by train, boat, submarine, plane and swimming, and to have worked at its bottom. |
| France to England | Czechoslovakia | František Venclovský [cz] | 1971 | 15:26 | First Czech (Czechoslovak at that time) to swim the channel. |
| England to France | Poland | Teresa Zarzeczańska | 1975 | 11:10 | First Polish person to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Poland | Romuald Szopa | 1978 | 12:49 | First Polish man to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | United Kingdom | Mary Yeats | 1979 | 11:19 | First Scot to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Belgium | Vera Zeitzen | 1981 | 10:27 | First Belgian woman to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Tunisia | Nejib Belhedi | 1993 | 16:35 | First Tunisian to swim the channel, namesake of a trophy for swimming the channel at the highest tide. |
| England to France | France | Marion Hans | 1994 | 9:42 | First French woman to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Norway | Bharat Shukla | 2000 | 13:52 | First Norwegian to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | China | Zhang Jian | 2001 | 11:56 | First person from China to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Barbados | Chris Gibbs | 2003 | 11:30 | First person from a Caribbean country to swim the English Channel. Aged 58, and member of The Merrymen Calypso band. |
| England to France | Malaysia | Abdul Malik Mydin | 2003 | 17:42 | First Malaysian swimmer to cross the English Channel. |
| England to France | Dominican Republic | Marcos Diaz | 2004 | 09:56 | First Dominican swimmer to cross the English Channel. |
| England to France | Singapore | Thum Ping Tjin | 2005 | 12:24 | First Singaporean to swim the Channel. |
| England to France | Iceland | Sigrún Þuríður Geirsdóttir | 2015 | 22:34 | First Icelandic woman to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Luxembourg | Paule Kremer | 2017 | 13:54 | First Luxembourgish person and woman to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Ecuador | Sara Palacios | 2018 | 12:58 | First Ecuadorian citizen and South American Woman to swim the channel. |
| England to France | Syria | Zeina Alsharkas | 2019 | 11:36 | First Syrian woman to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Chile | Bárbara Hernández | 2019 | 12:13 | First Chilean to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France | Taiwan | Hsu Wen-erh (許汶而) | 2024 | 12:17 | First Taiwanese to swim the English Channel. |

## Other notable crossings

| Direction | Country of origin | Swimmer | Year | Time | Notes |
| England to France | United States | Florence Chadwick | 1953 | 14:42 | First woman to swim the English Channel in both directions (on separate occasions). |
| England to France | United Kingdom | Bill Pickering | 1955 | 14:06 | First vegetarian swimmer to cross the English Channel. |
| England to France to England | Argentina | Antonio Abertondo | 1961 | 43:10 | First person to swim the channel both ways non-stop. |
| England to France to England | Canada | Cindy Nicholas | 1977 | 19:55 | First woman and youngest swimmer (at the time) to swim the channel both ways non-stop, breaking Jon Erikson's record of 30 hours and setting a new world record. Her one way crossing in 1975 set the record of 9 hours and 46 minutes (a record that stood until 1988). She holds the record for the most two-way crossings with a total of five. |
| England to France | United States | Charles Chapman | 1981 | 12:30 | First black swimmer to cross the Channel. |
| England to France to England to France | United States | Jon Erikson | 1981 | 38:27 | First person to swim the channel three ways. |
| England to France | Australia | John Maclean | 1998 | 12:55 | First paraplegic to swim the Channel. |
| England to France | Bulgaria | Petar Stoychev | 2007 | 6:57 | First swimmer to cross the English Channel under 7 hours. |
| England to France | France | Philippe Croizon | 2010 | 13:28 | First quadruple amputee to swim the English Channel. |
| England to France to England to France to England | United States | Sarah Thomas | 2019 | 54:10 | First person to swim the channel four ways non-stop. |
| England to France | United Kingdom | Gillian Castle | 2023 | 13:53 | First person with a stoma to swim the Channel. |

## Records
### Fastest

| Record | Country of origin | Swimmer | Time | Date |
| Men | Germany | Andreas Waschburger | 06:45 | Sep. 2023 |
| Women | Czech Republic | Yvetta Hlaváčová | 07:25 | 2006 |
| Men two ways | New Zealand | Philip Rush | 16:10 | 1987 |
| Women two ways | Australia | Susie Maroney | 17:14 | 1991 |
| Men three ways | New Zealand | Philip Rush | 28:21 | 1987 |
| Women three ways | United Kingdom | Alison Streeter | 34:40 | 1990 |
| Four ways | United States | Sarah Thomas | 54:10 | 2019 |

### Most crossings

| Record | Country of origin | Swimmer | Crossings |
| Women | Australia | Chloë McCardel | 45 |
| Men | United Kingdom | Kevin Murphy | 34 |
| Women two ways | Canada | Cynthia Nicholas | 5 |
| Men two ways | United Kingdom | Kevin Murphy | 3 |
| Men two ways | Australia | Stuart Johnson | 3 |
| Women three ways | United Kingdom | Alison Streeter | 1 |
| Women three ways | Australia | Chloe McCardel | 1 |
| Women three ways | United States | Sarah Thomas | 1 |
| Men three ways | United States | Jon Erikson | 1 |
| Men three ways | New Zealand | Philip Rush | 1 |
| Four ways | United States | Sarah Thomas | 1 |

### Oldest swimmer

| Record | Country of origin | Swimmer | Age | Date | Reference |
| Women | United Kingdom | Linda Ashmore | 71 years | August 21, 2018 | |
| Men | South Africa | Otto Thaning | 73 years | September 6, 2014 | |

### Youngest swimmer

| Record | Country of origin | Swimmer | Age | Date | Reference |
| Women | United Kingdom | Samantha Druce | 12 years, 118 days | 1983 | |
| Men | United Kingdom | Thomas Gregory | 11 years, 330 days | 1988 | |

### Relay

| Record | Country of origin | Time | Date |
| 2 swimmers | United Kingdom | 9:22 | 2005 |
| 3 swimmers | USA | 9:39 | 2011 |
| 4 swimmers | Brazil | 8:22 | 2011 |

## Sources

* Watson, Kathy (2001). The crossing: the glorious tragedy of the first man to swim the English channel. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN 1-58542-109-X.
* Dolphin (1875). The Channel Feats of Captain Webb and Captain Boyton. London: Dean & Son.