Endurance swimmer smashes record-breaking Channel crossing
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Endurance swimmer, Chloe McCardel, has completed a record-breaking crossing of the English Channel.
The Australian swam her 35th Channel crossing on Saturday evening in a time of 10 hours and 40 minutes.
Completing the tricky 21-mile challenge means the 35-year-old has now passed the men's record of 34 times held by British athlete Kevin Murphy.
She is now only behind British swimmer and 'Queen of the English Channel' Alison Streeter, who has swam the route a whopping 43 times!
Chloe set off from Abbot's Cliff beach near Folkestone, in England
Chloe was worried arriving in Calais in France might mean she would need to self-isolate on her return, due to recent coronavirus restrictions.
But UK and French coastguards have given her the all-clear.
She only spent a few moments on the French shore before swimming back out to her support boat for the return journey.
What does crossing the Channel mean?
The English Channel is the stretch of water between England and France.
The shortest route to swim across it is 21 miles long, but that can change depending on the current.
The Channel is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, with 600 tankers and 200 ferries passing through it every day.
Making the journey has to be very carefully planned and swimmers need to be highly experienced and supported by an expert team.
In 1926, the American Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim the Channel in a time of 14 hours and 34 minutes
Alison Streeter has swum the English Channel 43 times - more than anyone else in the world
Jackie Cobell set the record for the slowest swim in 2010, when she crossed the channel in 28 hours and 44 minutes
Chloe was in the water for 10 hours and 40 minutes
'A tough day at the office'
Chloe holds lots of world records for endurance swimming, including the longest ratified unassisted ocean swim in 2014, when she covered 77.3 miles (124.4km) in 41.5 hours in the waters around the Bahamas.
And in 2017, she became the first person to attempt a quadruple non-stop crossing of the English Channel, but she was not successful in completing the 84-mile journey.
After completing her 35th swim she joked it was a "tough day at the office".
"I'm in great spirits," she said. "It's such a joyous thing to be able to surpass the record and move to second spot on the list of most Channel crossings.
She said: "I would like to have a little celebration this evening in England.
"I'm extremely lucky to be surrounded by so much love and support, from my English host to my support boat captains and crew, and I'm excited to celebrate this achievement together with them."
Chloe added that, after completing four swims in 16 days to break the record, she was looking forward to finally getting some well-earned rest.
"I've got a lot more muscular soreness than I anticipated, I don't think I want to swim the Channel again for a while," she laughed.
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