English Channel
Completion of the swim between England and France, non-wetsuit and not listing multiple times or different directions. 1st swims are listed plus those which broke a speed record for a specified swim. The codes help understand directions: “crossing" means either direction; E>F means England to France; records also look at 2-4 way segments and “overall” means the fastest of all men and women (women did hold overall speed records) - see xls
Antonio Abertondo: 1st 2 way (overall)
Abdellatief Abou Heif: Record E>F (overall)
Nick Adams
Jacques Amyot
Greta Andersen: Record crossing (woman), Record E>F (woman)
Antonio Argüelles Díaz-González
Paul Asmuth: Record crossing (man)
Ersin Aydin
David Barra
Marilyn Bell
Cameron Bellamy
Tina Bischoff: Record crossing (overall)
Colleen Blair, MBE
Dr. Caroline Block
Tom Blower: Record E>F (overall)
Dr. Julie Bradshaw, MBE
Tamara Bruce
Tom Burgess
Karen Burton Reeder
Alfredo Camarero
Florence Chadwick: 1st (woman) – E>F, Record crossing (woman),Record E>F (woman) three times
Kimberley Chambers
David Stevens Clark
Anne Cleveland
Marcia Cleveland
Robert Cossette: see note 1 below
Dr. James “Doc” Counsilman
Baron Abílio Couto: Record E>F (overall)
Lynne Cox: Record crossing (woman) twice, Record E>F (overall) twice
Julian Critchlow
Brojen Das: Record F>E (overall), see note 2 below
Penny Lee Dean, EdD: Record crossing (overall)
Ned Denison
Edith van Dijk
Lyndon Dunsbee: Record crossing (man)
Gertrude Ederle: 1st woman, 1st (woman) – F>E, Record crossing (overall), see note 3 below
Nasser Elshazly: Record crossing (overall)
Jon Erikson: 1st 3 way (overall), Record crossing (man), Record 2 way (overall), Record 2 way (man)
Ted Erikson: Record 2 way (overall)
Brenda Fisher, BEM: Record crossing F>E (woman)
Commander Gerald Forsberg, OBE, Master Mariner, FNI, Royal Navy (Retired): Record E>F (overall)
Elizabeth Fry
Pat Gallant-Charette
Rosemary George
Mercedes Gleitze
Elaine Gray: Record crossing (woman)
Christopher Green
Trent Grimsey: Record crossing (overall)
Ros Hardiman
Ashby “Brud” Harper
Suzanne Heim-Bowen
Ishak Helmy
Tom Hetzel, PhD
Colin Hill
Yvetta Hlaváčová Record crossing (woman)
Chad Hundeby: Record crossing (overall)
Carole Hunt
Sarah Hunt
Helge Jensen: Record crossing (overall)
Zhang Jian
Peter Jurzynski
Ted Keenan
Dr. Vicki Keith, CM
John Kinsella
Yuri Kudinov
Irene van der Laan: Record 2 way (overall)
Annemie Landmeters
Stéphane Lecat
Jaime Lomelín Gavaldón
Sunny Lowry, MBE
Dr. Marcy MacDonald, DPM: fist England to Belgium
Michelle Macy
Alawi Mohammed Makki Al-Ibrahim
Attila Mányoki
Susie Maroney, OAM: Record 2 way (woman)
Daniel Eulogio Carpio “Carpayo” Massioti
Chloë McCardel: see note 4 below
Linda McGill, MBE, OAM Record crossing (woman)
Georges Michel: Record F>E (overall)
Sally Anne Minty-Gravett, MBE
Dr. Osama Ahmed Momtaz: Record 2 way (man)
Jaimie Monahan
Rohan Dattatrey More
David Morgan
Lynton Mortensen
Kevin Murphy: see note 5 below
Forrest Nelson
Marc Newman: see note 6 below
Cynthia Nicholas, CM: 1st 2 way (woman), Record F>E (woman), Record 2 way (overall) three times
Anna-Carin Nordin
Gustavo Oriozabala
Penny Palfrey
David Parcells
Tom Park
Courtney Moates Paulk
Baptista Pereira
James Pittar
Claudio Plit
Lewis Pugh, OIG: see note 7 below
Michael P. Read, MBE: see note 8 below
Stephen Redmond
Hassan Abdel Rehim: Record crossing (overall), see note 9 below
Des Renford, MBE, OAM: see note 10 below
Julie Ridge
Veljko Rogošić
Philip Rush Record crossing (man), Record F>E (overall), Record 2 way (overall) twice, Record 3 way (overall)
Jan van Scheijndel
Mihir Sen
Mervyn Sharp
Taranath Narayan Shenoy
Dan Simonelli
Carol Sing
Joe Smith
Igor de Souza
Tomi Stefanovski
Dr. Chris Stockdale, MBE
Petar Stoychev: Record crossing (overall)
Alison Streeter, MBE: 1st 3 way (woman), Record F>E (woman), Record 2 way F>E>F (woman), see note 11 below
Martin Strel
Henry Sullivan
Stella Taylor
Shelley Taylor-Smith
Bert Thomas
Sarah Thomas: 1st 4 way (overall)
Enrico Tiraboschi: 1st F>E (man), Record crossing (overall)
Nora Toledano Cadena
Montserrat Tresserras
Norman Trusty
Hugh Tucker
Jacques Tuset
Ernst Vierkoetter: Record crossing (overall), see note 12 below
Christof Wandratsch Record crossing (man)
Barry Watson: Record crossing (overall)
Captain Matthew Webb: 1st (overall) – E>F
Monique Wildschut
Herman Willemse
John York
Bridget Young
David Yudovin
Major Jason Zirganos
note 1: 4th swimmer with a physical disability (leg by polio) to cross
note 2: first to complete 5 crossings
note 3: 1st swimmer with a physical disability (deaf) to cross
note 4: Queen of the Channel with 43 crossings (most male or female)
note 5: King of the English Channel with 34 crossings (most male)
note 6: one of his crossings started from Dungeness
note 7: he also swam the length of the English Channel (530km over 49 days)
note 8: Channel Swimming Association's King of the Channel® with 33 crossings and first to complete 20 and 30 crossings
note 9: first to complete 3 and 4 crossings
note 10: first to complete 10 crossings
note 11: first to complete 40 crossings
note 12: 2nd swimmer with a physical disability (blind in 1 eye) to cross
The list above agrees with the public list available at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x8fqi1gvjXQ40puKd3c3iniekVnQnHQS/view
The list above covers the “normal” English Channel crossings of 33 km. In earlier years this was starting from a location on the French coast and landing anywhere in England or starting in the Dover/Folkestone area and landing anywhere in France. At least two swimmers pioneered different courses.
Honoree Marc Newman in 2016 started at Dungeness with the goal to land anywhere in France. The shortest straight-line difference is 41.8 km and he completed in 16 hours and 9 minutes.
Honoree Dr. Marcy MacDonald, PDM in 2022 started in Ramsgate with the goal to land in Belgium. The shortest straight-line difference is 82.6 km and she completed in 38 hours and 20 minutes (from 26 to 30 hours covering about 25 meters against the tide).