Sofia, July 14 (BTA/GNA) – Former world champion in open water swimming Peter Stoychev swam the 38.1 km distance from Northern Ireland to Scotland in under 10 hours, Stoychev said on his Facebook profile. The 47-year-old Bulgarian swam the distance in 9 hours and 56 minutes, becoming the 11th swimmer in history to do so in less than 10 hours.
“The North Channel – swum! Six of the Oceans Seven marathons have been conquered,” Stoychev, who is also a former minister of sports and physical education, said.
“I covered 38.1 kilometres ( the usual distance is 34.5 kilometres) from Northern Ireland to the Scottish coast in 9 hours and 56 minutes. It was a very tough swim, with water temperatures ranging from 12.9C to 13.4C.
“I became the 144th person to successfully swim the North Channel and entered the prestigious club of those who have done it in under 10 hours, which includes only 10 other people in the world,” Stoychev wrote. He recorded the eighth-best time of all.
He is also the first Bulgarian to swim six of the Oceans Seven marathons – the English Channel, the Cook Strait, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Strait of Molokai, the Catalina Channel and the North Channel. Stoychev has only one more to go – Tsugaru Strait in Japan.
Stoychev also wrote that he will be a member of the Swimming Technical Committee selected by World Aquatics at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“But now I have some time to enjoy success in the coldest of the seven marathon challenges and to say thank you to all the Bulgarians who keep showing me their support. To Ivan Zlatinov, with whom we were together in this step to great success. And to my coach Krasimir Tumanov,” Stoychev said.
GNA/BTA