As we look across the entire spectrum of marathon swimming from slow to fast, from young to old, from novice to professional, women – on average – give a good battle to their male colleagues in the oceans and lakes around the world. If the fastest of the English Channel swimmers are analyzed, the pendulum swings in favor of the males. Of the thousands of English Channel swims, only 194 swims have been completed in under 10 hours.
– 8 of the fastest 10 swims of all time were done by men (80%) – 14 of the fastest 20 swims of all time were done by men (70%) – 31 of the fastest 50 swims of all time were done by men (62%) – 60 of the fastest 100 swims of all time were done by men (60%) – 115 out of the 194 swims done under 10 hours were done by men (59%)
It appears from this limited slice of data from 1875 – 2010 that as English Channel times get faster, the number of women at the top are fewer.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Daily News of Open Water Swimming and founder of WOWSA. 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).