It was reported that Jason Lassen from Oregon completed a Catalina Channel crossing doing breastroke in 15 hours and 59 minutes. The swim must first be ratified by the Catalina Channel Swimming Federation, but according to its website, it may be the first breaststroke swim.

It is interesting to compare the non-freestyle records between the Catalina Channel and the English Channel:

Butterfly
Catalina Channel: Vicki Keith (Canada) 14:53
English Channel: Julia Bradshaw (UK) 14:18

Backstroke
Catalina Channel: Tina Neil (USA) 10:37
English Channel: Tina Neill (USA) 13:22

Breaststroke
Catalina Channel: Jason Lassen (USA) 15:59
English Channel: Frederik Jaques (Belgium) 13:31

The history of swimming channels started off breaststroke when Captain Matthew Webb first successfully crossed the English Channel in 1875 in 23 hours and 45 minutes.

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