Chris Derks from Irving, Texas is a world record holder at the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim with a 7 hour 41 minutes and a former American professional marathon swimmer.
Always active in the water as a swimmer and helpful trainer to others, he also won the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim in 1999 (8 hours 23 minutes), 2000 (8 hours 30 minutes), and 2001 (9 hours 4 minutes) and 2002 (7 hours 41 minutes). He also has the fastest crossing at the Lake Travis Solo Swim in Austin, Texas.
Along the way to complete a crossing of the English Channel, he also competed in 8 USA Swimming National 25 km Open Water Swimming Championships, the Traversée Internationale du lac St-Jean, and the Around Atlantic City professional marathon swim. He won the 2004 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 2004 in 7 hours 16 minutes and finished third at the 1998 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 7 hours 24 minutes.
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.