Bulgarian swimmer Petar Stoychev set a world record after swimming the seven open water straits Oceans Seven in the shortest period of time

Swimmer Petar Stoychev conquered another peak in his legendary career. The Bulgarian set a world record after he managed to swim the seven biggest open water marathons from March 14 to September 2 in 2024.

It is the first time all the seven marathons - the Cook Strait, the Strait of Gibraltar, Molokai Channel, the Catalina Channel, the North Channel, the Tsugaru Strait and the English Channel - have been swum in less than half a year. In 5 months and 20 days.

The previous world record was held by the great Andy Donaldson. He was the first person in the world to swim all seven marathons within one year, from August 7, 2022, to July 27, 2023. His record was 355 days. Stoychev's achievement was within 173 days.

Here is what the Bulgarian swimmer wrote on his official Facebook profile after setting the record.

"The new world record is Bulgarian! I set it with my successful night swim in the English Channel, despite very difficult conditions. Our window to start the swim was from 27 August to 1 September. We started at 23.34, 26 minutes before our slot was up. We were waiting to see if the weather would improve. It didn't. But that didn't put me off. On the contrary - it motivated me even more. As my legendary skipper Mike Oram said, "Petar, I wouldn't go swimming in these conditions with anyone else. You are Aquaman."

"I started the swim 26 minutes before midnight on September 1 from Sampfir Howe (England), finishing in Cap Gri-Ne (France) in 10 hours and 12 minutes. I swam in the dark for most of it, in strong wind and big waves. The waves reached over 2 metres and made the swim very difficult. In the final part to France there were a lot of jellyfish."

"Despite everything, my swim was successful. Third Channel swim and first at night - 17 years after I became the first person to swim the Channel in less than 7 hours and 18 years after I swam it for the first time. I am extremely proud to have become only the 32nd person in the entire world and the first from Bulgaria to complete Oceans Seven. And now the world record holder with swimming the seven marathons in 173 days."

"I am grateful to all the Bulgarians who never stop showing me their great support. I thank every single person who has helped me during these tests of will, especially Ivan Zlatinov, with whom we were together in overcoming all the challenges. Ivan, this world record is also yours! Thanks also to my coach Krasimir Tumanov! Krasi, every achievement of mine is yours too! Thank you to all the organizations and boaters who were with me during this very serious challenge! The world record is for Bulgaria and all Bulgarians!"