B'luru's Siddhartha becomes oldest Indian to swim across English Channel

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: Siddhartha Agarwal, at 49 years of age, became the oldest Indian to swim across the English Channel, achieving the feat on August 29. Siddhartha took 15 hours and six minutes to swim across the 42km waterway.

The Bengaluru-based swimmer's quest to cross the Channel first began in 2018 when he swam the waterway as part of an eightmember relay team.

It was the same year when Srikaanth Viswanathan, also from Bengaluru, entered the record books for becoming the oldest to swim the English Channel solo at the age of 46.

"In 2017, during a casual swim in the pool, Satish Kumar (founder of Swim Life) presented me with the challenge of trying out openwater swimming, I accepted the idea. Little did I imagine then that I would end up swimming solo across the English Channel," said Siddhartha.

The last 10kms posed the greatest challenge as he had to battle rigid conditions and high tides. "Until I actually completed the swim, I never believed that I could actually do this. It took me a while for it to sink in. What worked for me was that I trusted my coach,'' Siddhartha said.