Sergio Salomone explains about one of the world’s most challenging channel swims: the 25 km Beltquerung.
The 25 km channel swim is in cool waters (16°C) of the Fehmarn Belt (Danish: Femern Bælt, German: Fehmarnbelt), a strait in the western part of the Baltic Sea between the German island of Fehmarn and the Danish island of Lolland.
After the first unprecedented crossing in 1939 by local swimming pioneer Karl-Heinz Rauert, the top ten swimmers who have traversed between Rødby in Denmark and Puttgarden, Germany include the following channel swimmers:
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.