The King of The Channel title is bestowed on the man who has successfully completed more swims of the English Channel than any other. The title as well the accompanied Letona Trophy is awarded by the Channel Swimming Association. [1] The title is currently held by Kevin Murphy who has completed 34 swims between the years of 1968 and 2006. Chloë McCardel, with 44 crossings, has the designation as Queen of the Channel.
Swimmer [2] | Number of Crossings | Years Held Title |
---|---|---|
Matthew Webb | 1 | 1875-1934 |
Edward Temme | 2 | 1934-1951 |
William Barnie | 3 | 1951-1960 |
Brojen Das | 4-6 | 1960-1974 |
Melvyn Sharp | 7 | 1974-1975 |
Desmond Renford | 8-16 | 1975-1979 |
Michael Read | 17-18 | 1979-1980 |
Desmond Renford | 19 | 1980 |
Michael Read | 20-31 | 1980-2000 |
Kevin Murphy | 32 | 2000-2004 |
Michael Read | 33 | 2004-2006 |
Kevin Murphy | 34 | 2006- |
Jennifer Beth Thompson is an American former competition swimmer and anesthesiologist.
Marilyn Grace Bell Di Lascio is a Canadian retired long distance swimmer. She was the first person to swim across Lake Ontario and later swam the English Channel and Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Brojen Das was a Bangladeshi swimmer, who was the first Asian to swim across the English Channel, and the first person to cross it six times.
Lewis William Gordon Pugh, OIG, is a British-South African endurance swimmer and ocean advocate.
Odunayo Andrew Akinwolere, previously known as Andy Akinwolere, is a British television presenter.
Kevin Murphy has swum the English Channel 34 times, more than any other man in history. The overall title of greatest number of successful English Channel swims is held by Alison Streeter with 43 to her name.
The Queen of the Channel is a title bestowed on the woman who has completed more successful swims of the English Channel than any other. It is held by Chloë McCardel with a total of 44 swims.
Desmond Robert Renford MBE was an Australian long distance swimmer who swam the English Channel 19 times from 19 attempts. This was a record for successful crossings by an Australian until it was overtaken by Chloe McCardel in 2016. From 1975-1979 and for a period in 1980 he held the title of King of the Channel. At the time of his death, only two other people had swum the Channel more often, Alison Streeter and Michael Read.
Michael Peter Read MBE is an English long-distance swimmer who has the second most crossings of the English Channel – 33 to date. The current Queen of the Channel is Alison Streeter.
Marathon swimming is a class of open water swimming defined by long distances and traditional rules based in English Channel swimming. Unlike marathon foot-races which have a specifically defined distance, marathon swims vary in distance. However, one commonly used minimum definition is 10 kilometers, the distance of the marathon swimming event at the Olympic Games.
Hannah Louise Miley is a Scottish competitive swimmer who specialises in the Individual Medley. Miley trained when she was younger at Inverurie Swimming Centre. She has represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games, reaching the final of the 400 metres individual medley on each occasion, finishing sixth in 2008, fifth in 2012 and fourth in 2016. Also in the 400 m individual medley, she is a former World short-course champion (2012), European champion (2010), and two-time European short-course champion representing Great Britain, and a two-time Commonwealth champion representing Scotland.
Eva Belle Morrison Abdou was a Boston hospital librarian, and a long distance swimmer who made three attempts to cross the English Channel. She was on the Board of Governors of The International Professional Swimmers' Association.
Enrique Tirabocchi was an Argentinian marathon swimmer who in August 1926 became the fourth person to successfully swim across the English Channel. He was the first person to swim from France to England and finished the swim in 16 hours and 33 minutes, beating the record set by Matthew Webb when he was the first to make the crossing more than 50 years earlier.
Chloë McCardel, born 10 May 1985, is an open water swimmer and swim coach from Melbourne, Australia.
Nejib Belhedi is a Tunisian Marathon Icy and Iron open-water swimmer.
Taranath Narayan Shenoy, is a deaf and visually impaired Indian swimmer and an honoree of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. He is a winner of the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, having successfully completed the English Channel, Catalina Channel and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian award of Padma Shri in 1990.
Rupali Ramdas Repale, is an Indian open-water long-distance swimmer and triathlete. She swam the English Channel in the solo swim category on 15 August 1994 in a time span of 16 hours and 7 minutes, making her the youngest successful swimmer to cross the English Channel for the year 1994. She swam a total of seven straits during the course of her swimming career, Gibraltar Strait, Palk Strait, Bass Strait, Cook Strait, Robben Island Channel and Mumbai-Dharamtar Channel.
Sarah Thomas is an American marathon swimmer. She is the first person to complete four consecutive crossings of the English Channel and the first person to swim a current-neutral swim over 100 miles. She holds the world record for longest, second-, and third-longest current-neutral swims, and various other records in both fresh and salt water categories.
Meenakshi Pahuja is an Indian lecturer and marathon swimmer. After a successful career as a competitive swimmer, she became a teacher at Lady Shri Ram College, and later entered open water swimming. She received a 2018 Nari Shakti Puraskar award.