Marathon swimming challenge
The Oceans Seven is a marathon swimming challenge consisting of seven open water channel swims. It was devised in 2008 as the swimming equivalent of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge. It comprises the North Channel , the Cook Strait , the Molokaʻi Channel , the English Channel , the Catalina Channel , the Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar .[ 1]
The record for the fastest cumulative time for the completion of the 7 swims is held by Scot Andrew Donaldson , with a total swim time of 63 hours, 2 minutes.[ 2]
The record for the fastest completion of all seven swims is held by Bulgarian Petar Stoychev who achieved it in 173 days, completing on 14 August 2024.[ 3]
The record for the youngest ever person to complete all 7 swims is held by New Zealander Caitlin O'Reilly who was 20 years, 7 months, and 15 days old upon completion.
List of Oceans Seven swims [ edit ]
The North Channel : between Ireland and Scotland, 34.5 kilometres (18.6 nmi)
The Cook Strait : between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, 22.5 kilometres (12.1 nmi)
The Molokaʻi Channel (also known as the Kaiwi Channel): between Moloka’i and O’ahu, 42 kilometres (23 nmi)
The English Channel : between England and France, 33 kilometres (18 nmi)
The Catalina Channel : between Santa Catalina Island and Los Angeles, 32.3 kilometres (17.4 nmi)
The Tsugaru Strait : between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, 19.5 kilometres (10.5 nmi)
The Strait of Gibraltar : between Spain and Morocco, 14.4 kilometres (7.8 nmi)
List of successful completions [ edit ]
The LongSwims Database maintains a list of swimmers who have completed the challenge:[ 4]
Name
Date completed
Nation
Notes
1
Stephen Redmond
14 July 2012
Ireland
First ever to complete all seven swims. Total time 2 years 344 days; cumulative time 104 hours 19 minutes.[ 5] [ 6]
2
Anna-Carin Nordin
8 July 2013
Sweden
First woman to complete all seven swims. Total time 2 years 290 days; cumulative time 182 hours 39 mins.[ 7]
3
Michelle Macy
15 July 2013
United States
4
Darren Miller
29 August 2013
United States
5
Adam Walker
6 August 2014
United Kingdom
[ 8]
6
Kimberley Chambers
2 September 2014
New Zealand
7
Antonio Argüelles
3 August 2017
Mexico
[ 9]
8
Ion Lazarenco-Tiron
27 January 2018
Republic of Moldova
First from a landlocked country
9
Rohan Dattatrey More
9 February 2018
India
First Asian[ 10]
10
Abhejali Bernardová
24 February 2018
Czech Republic
[ 11]
11
Cameron Bellamy
21 June 2018
South Africa
First South African[ 12]
12
Lynton Mortensen
14 November 2018
Australia
First Australian[ 13]
13
Thomas “Fleppy” Pembroke
14 December 2018
Australia
14
Nora Toledano Cadena
30 March 2019
Mexico
15
Mariel Hawley Dávila
30 March 2019
Mexico
16
André Wiersig
9 June 2019
Germany
17
Elizabeth Fry
25 August 2019
United States
18
Attila Mányoki
26 August 2019
Hungary
Fastest cumulative time (64 hours 35 minutes) until Donaldson, 2023[ 14] [ 15]
19
Jonathan Ratcliffe
10 December 2019
United Kingdom
[ 16]
20
Jorge Crivillés
1 January 2020
Spain
First Spaniard
21
Adrian Sarchet
29 February 2020
Guernsey
[ 17]
22
Prabhat Koli
1 March 2023
India
23
Dina Levačić
14 March 2023
Croatia
First Croat, youngest (27 years)
24
Herman van der Westhuizen
16 July 2023
South Africa
25
Andrew Donaldson
27 July 2023
United Kingdom
Fastest total time (355 days) until Stoychev, 2024;[ 18] Fastest cumulative time (63 hours 2 minutes).[ 14] [ 15] Note: the previous record for total time was 2 years 60 days.[ 15]
26
Stephen Junk
10 September 2023
Australia
27
Kieron Palframan
6 October 2023
South Africa
28
Bárbara Hernández
14 June 2024
Chile
First South American.[ 19]
29
Mark Sowerby
29 June 2024
Australia
[ 20]
30
Zach Margolis
13 July 2024
United States
First openly LGBTQ+ [ 21] [ 22]
31
Paul Georgescu
27 July 2024
România
First Romanian[ 23]
32
Petar Stoychev
14 August 2024
Bulgaria
First Bulgarian.[ 24] Fastest total time (173 days from 14 March to 2 September 2024: Stoychev repeated his English Channel swim after completing Oceans Seven to reduce total time)[ 18]
33
Nathalie Pohl
15 September 2024
Germany
First German woman.[ 25]
34
Caitlin O'Reilly
24 October 2024
New Zealand
Youngest ever swimmer to complete the Oceans Seven at 20 years, 7 months, and 15 days.
35
Ryan Utsumi
18 April 2025
United States
[ 26]
36
Bengisu Avcı
4 August 2025
Türkiye
First Turkish swimmer. Cumulative time (73 hours 16 minutes)[ 27]
^ Tim Moss (7 September 2014). "What are the Oceans Seven?" . TheNextChallenge.Org . Retrieved 5 August 2017 .
^ Ryan, Suzie (2023-08-15). "Andy Donaldson Conquers The Oceans Seven And Breaks World Record" . oceanswims.com . Retrieved 2025-01-10 .
^ "Marathon Swimmer Petar Stoychev Completes All Oceans Seven Open Water Straits within 173 Days, Breaks World Record" . 5 September 2024.
^ "Oceans Seven Swimmers" . Oceans Seven . Marathon Swimmers Federation. Retrieved 8 March 2021 .
^ O'Connell, Hugh (15 July 2012). "Irish swimmer completes gruelling open water challenge" . The Journal . Retrieved 20 February 2014 .
^ "Stephen Redmond" . World Open Water Swimming Association Database . Retrieved 5 September 2024 .
^ "Anna-Carin Nordin" . World Open Water Swimming Association Database . Retrieved 5 September 2024 .
^ "Open-ocean swimmer Adam Walker: 'Hardest swim of my life' " . BBC News . BBC. 11 September 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013 .
^ Adam Skolnik (5 August 2017). "In a Swimmer's Two-Year Quest, a Final 21-Mile Challenge" . New York Times . Retrieved 5 August 2017 .
^ "Pune swimmer world's youngest to complete Ocean 7 Challenge" . Inshorts - Stay Informed . Retrieved 11 February 2018 .
^ "European completes Ocean's Seven with Cook Strait swim" . 26 February 2018.
^ "Cameron Bellamy Does Oceans Seven, South African 1st" . dailynews.openwaterswimming.com . 21 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018 .
^ Munatones, Steven (14 November 2018). "Indomitable: Sea Bull Completes The Oceans Seven" . Retrieved 7 December 2018 .
^ a b McPhee, Rebecca (29 July 2023). "Andy Donaldson Completes Oceans Seven in Record Time" . Retrieved 4 August 2023 .
^ a b c "Scots swimmer breaks record for Oceans Seven challenge" . BBC News . 4 August 2023. Retrieved 5 September 2024 .
^ Unknown (11 Dec 2019). "Oundle dad becomes 19th person in history to complete gruelling global swim challenge" . Peterborough Telegraph . Retrieved 11 Dec 2019 .
^ " 'Sea Donkey' Adrian Sarchet completes Oceans Seven challenge" . ITV News . 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020 .
^ a b Rusev, Momchil. "Marathon Swimmer Petar Stoychev Completes All Oceans Seven Open Water Straits within 173 Days, Breaks World Record" . www.bta.bg . Retrieved 5 September 2024 .
^ "Bárbara Hernández Huerta's Journey to the Oceans Seven" . 14 June 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024 .
^ "A Decade of Dreams Realized: Mark Sowerby Completes the Oceans Seven" . 3 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024 .
^ "Zach Margolis: 30th Person to Complete the Oceans Seven – An Interview and His Journey Through All Seven Swims" . 15 July 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2024 .
^ "Oceans Seven" . zachmargolis.com . 2025-07-13. Retrieved 2025-07-15 .
^ "Paul Georgescu becomes first Romanian to complete Oceans Seven swimming challenge" . Romania Insider . 29 July 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024 .
^ Marinova, Tatiana. "Swimmer Petar Stoychev Becomes First Bulgarian to Swim All Oceans Seven Open Water Straits" . www.bta.bg . Retrieved 5 September 2024 .
^ "Extremschwimmerin Pohl durchquert als erste deutsche Frau die »Ocean's Seven«" . Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 17 September 2024 .
^ "Double Success Across the Strait of Gibraltar: Ryan Utsumi Achieves the Oceans Seven with Sayani Das (One To Go) – Daily News of Open Water Swimming" . dailynewsofopenwaterswimming.com . Retrieved 2025-07-15 .
^ "Bengisu Avcı tarihe geçti" . TRT Spor (in Turkish). 4 August 2025. Retrieved 4 August 2025 .