Pablo Fernández Álvarez Swimming For COVID-19 Research
Pablo Fernández Álvarez Swimming For COVID-19 Research
Courtesy of Libertad Silva, Madrid, Spain.Pablo Fernández Álvarez, a two-time Guinness World Record holder from Spain, is gearing up for his next adventure.
Libertad Silva explains, “His record attempt next week in Spain will be a charity swim to support COVID-19 research, especially noteworthy because Fernández himself is a recovering COVID-19 patient. He joins Red Cross’ RESPONSE plan to set a new Guinness World Record by swimming 25 hours in a counter-current pool to raise funds to fight COVID-19.
He is a 39-year-old open water swimmer born in Madrid, who holds the Guinness World Record of the fastest 100 kilometers in the ocean. He also co-founded and serves as the CEO at Clicars.com, the #1 online car selling company in Spain.”
Fernández explains, “The COVID-19 pandemic has hit us hard with more than 3 million people infected globally. I also got infected with coronavirus in mid-March. After 15 days of fever, loss of taste and smell, respiratory problems and overall tiredness, the symptoms fortunately started to fade by the first days of April. I was lucky to recover from the disease at home, but as the pandemic continues many are not as lucky as I was. More than 25,000 Spaniards were not so lucky and thousands are still fighting for their lives.
This is just the beginning of a new stage in our lives. After the health crisis, we face an unprecedented economic tragedy that, as always, is hitting the most vulnerable communities, impacting millions of people. For this reason, I have decided to join athletes like Rafa Nadal or Pau Gasol to join Red Cross’ RESPONSE plan that will reach more than 1,350,000 people with a budget of 11,000,000 euros.
This Wednesday, May 6th starting at 9 am, I will start a 25 hour marathon swim in a counter-current pool to raise funds for the Red Cross, in its fight against COVID-19. This challenge will be broadcasted live on YouTube and Instagram and it would be a new Guinness Swimming World Record (currently at 24 hours and 1 minute held by Yuko Matsuzaki from Japan).
During the last few years, I have been swimming around the world, setting 2 Guinness World Records (one for the Fastest 100 km Open Water Solo Swim and one for the Fastest Time to swim 5 km while wearing leg iron/shackles) and 5 additional records for being the first person to swim from the British Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico, from Senegal to Gambia, from Nicaragua to El Salvador, the first person to swim the mouth of River Congo, Halong Bay in Vietnam, and the first to swim unprotected among sharks in South Africa. All my swim challenges have raised funds to different charities in education and ocean conservation.”
The GoFundMe page is here.
Last week, International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame chairman Ned Denison talked about the spirit of adventure with Pablo Fernández Álvarez in last week’s WOWSA Live.
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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).
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