Vasanti Niemz (born 8 December 1956) is an open water swimmer and endurance athlete living in Heidelberg, Germany. A member of the International Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team, she has been a vegetarian since 1981 who is a member of the Half Century Club.

Open Water Swimming Career

Endurance Sports Career – Marathon, Ultramarathon, Ultra-Triathlon

Since 1982, Vasanti has completed over 20 marathons, including 7 New York City Marathons (personal best: 3:53,1989), many ultra-races including 6 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours (personal best: 148,455 km, Basel, 1999) and one multiday race, the Self-Transcendence 6 Day Race in N.Y. (2011, 342,79 km). She finished the Zurich Ironman in 1996, a 10x Olmypic distance ultra-triathlon at the Sri Chinmoy Triathlon Festival in Canberra,1998 (15 km swim, 400 km bike, 100 km run, first and only woman to finish it), two Triple Ultra Ironmen in Lensahn, Germany, 2000 and 2003 (3rd place women at the World Championship 2003 in 54 h 44 min), leading up to her English Channel triathlon Dover-Aachen in 2010. In 2013 she attempted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with an international Peace Run team, but had to stop at 5300 m due to breathing problems.

Peace Runner

Vasanti has been part of the “Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run” founded by Sri Chinmoy since 1987 (called “World Harmony Run” between 2001 and 2012) as a regional organizer and runner in Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, Italy, Croatia, Japan, Vietnam, Tanzania, Indonesia, USA and other countries and carried the Peace Torch on her English Channel relay 2009, solo 2010, Gibraltar strait swim 2012 and to Mount Kilimanjaro in 2013 as a dedication of these events to peace and international friendship.