Meet Melanie Barratt
A double Paralympic champion and the first blind woman to swim the English Channel. Melanie's journey, from swimming in pools to conquering open water, proves that with innovation, community, and an unyielding spirit, anything is possible.
Follow Melanie’s journey and her preparation towards UltraSwim 33.3 #10Montenegro on socials: @blind_girl_swims
Tell us a bit about your swimming journey. When did you start swimming/open water swimming? Did you ever compete?
I learnt to swim when I was a small child, but it wasn’t really until I was a teenager that I started to train and swim competitively. I went to a school that was a special school for visually impaired students, and it was a very sporty school. They helped us learn how to play many sports - I tried goalball, football, basketball, cricket and athletics. I also learnt to swim but I wasn’t any good at it, I liked being in the water and feeling the water around me but I wasn’t very fast at all! It was only when one of my friends was selected to swim at the Paralympics that I started to think that it would be a great thing to do- to combine something that I enjoyed doing with competition. I think what I really enjoyed doing was the training part of it, and the discipline, focus and having a goal to work towards, and this has stayed with me for all of my life to date. So it was only when I went to a school gala when I was about 13 and won a few races that I realized that perhaps if I trained hard enough, I might be able to win some more, and possibly one day compete in the Paralympics.
You are a 5-time Paralympic medalist, tell us about this Paralympic journey. How does it now help you in your open water practice?
After many years of training and competition, eventually I was selected to go to international competitions and compete alongside the people that I’d always admired. I ended up having a long international career travelling all over the world and competing with other blind women. I was lucky enough to swim in many countries and see many fantastic feats of perseverance and endurance and meet incredible people. I won several European titles and World titles but the real highlight of my swimming career where the Paralympics in Atlanta and Sydney. In Atlanta I won gold and silver and in Sydney I won gold silver and bronze.
When did you start open water swimming? What drove you towards the open water? What made it different from the pool?
I had always dreamed about Swimming in open water. While I was competing in the pool, a friend of my family gave me the autobiography of Lynne Cox, an incredible swimmer who has swum in water all over the world and achieved amazing things such as swimming in the Arctic Circle and of course the English Channel. When I swim in a pool, I count my strokes and use markers such as lame ropes to tell where I am in the pool. When I compete, I sometimes use what’s called a tapper which is somebody who uses a ball on a stick to indicate where the end of the pool is. Obviously, this isn’t possible in open water, and sighted swimmers look towards distant objects such as buoys to ensure that they swim straight and safely. So, for many years, I always thought that it would be impossible for me to swim in open water.
This was until a few years ago, when a close friend of mine who is a very accomplished open water swimmer introduce me to Swimming at our local river. Although we didn’t actually swim, we “bobbed” - I was immediately hooked on the feeling of being literally immersed in nature. I loved being surrounded by the sounds of bird song, and the cold, constantly moving water, and the lovely fresh air. I loved the social aspect of it, the teamwork and camaraderie, and longed to be able to actually properly swim in the open water.
How does your blindness impact the way you swim, the needs you might have when swimming? How do you adapt in open water?
My swimming friend unfortunately was not the same pace as me so could not act as a guide, and to this day I have not been able to find somebody who swims at my pace and wants to do the same thing that I do. Therefore, I’ve had to think outside of the box, and come up with another way of swimming safely. When I swim in open water, I cannot see anything in the water and above the water I can just see colours and shapes. Initially, my husband kayaked next to me in a bright green kayak that I could see when I breathed to the left. This worked quite well for short distances, but for longer distances and more complicated routes it had its challenges! He was unable to communicate with me, and so was not able to tell me of obstacles, directions, information and about other swimmers that may be around. However, we were able to complete our first 10k together, and the Thames marathon - which were both fantastic swims.
Eventually, after doing a lot of research, I discovered that you could use a radio paired with a bone conducting headset. This enabled me to be guided safely from a bank, a boat, or a kayak or paddle board. This was a real breakthrough, because it meant that I could be guided in real time, and swim to my full potential! Once I started using this system, I became a lot more confident, and completed many swims in open water. These included two solos of Lake Windermere, several more Thames marathons, and being part of a six person all female relay team that swam the length of Lake Geneva!
In 2024, you became the first blind swimmer to cross the English Channel. What drove you to this challenge? Was it your first crossing?
After reading Lynn Cox‘s book, my dream had always been to swim the English Channel. After several years of training to increase my mental and physical stamina,, cold tolerance, improve my stroke and efficiency and deal with my fear of jellyfish, last summer it was finally my time in the channel.
I think that all of my years of pool swimming have really helped my open water swimming because my stroke is very efficient, and also very even, which means that I swim very straight!
How did you train for the English Channel crossing? For how long?
To train for the English Channel I was unable to access open water very often, so much of my training was done in the swimming pool. During the course of last year, running up to my attempt, I trained for increasing lengths of time in the pool. This was not just about increasing the distance I could swim, although that was a big part of it; I also included a lot of interval training to help with my fitness and recovery and strength. The longest time that I’ve ever spent in a pool was when I swam for four hours. Training like this is more about training your mind than your body, because it was mind-blowingly boring!
One of the most valuable things I did last year was to go on a swim trek long distance training camp. I learnt so much about myself and about what I needed to do in the run-up to and during my crossing. I was given some fantastic advice that will stay with me through every swim I did and will do in the futures. I also took every opportunity I could to swim in the sea, and to expose myself to cold water. This cold-water tolerance was a real concern of mine, to the point that I actually started doing daily immersions in a whiskey barrel in my garden!
What obstacles did you meet during your crossing? How did you overcome?
In the run-up to my channel crossing, I was really nervous about many things. Mostly the cold, but also the weather, the waves, whether my body and mind could last the distance-but I was also really scared of jellyfish! As it turned out, we could not have had a more perfect day. There was no wind, no rain, no waves, and actually not really any tide or even any jellyfish! Well, rather, the jellyfish were there, but I didn’t get stung!
Your worst memory of the English Channel crossing?
Despite being the most incredible day, I did go for a really rough patch at about halfway. I started to feel really, really sick, really tired, negative and completely overwhelmed. I’d practiced my feeding many times during pool swims and open water swims. I’m really not sure what went wrong, perhaps it was the stress of trying to feed so quickly, but my feeds really didn’t work well for me. I genuinely thought that I would have to give up, and this is where all the advice I had been given ready, really helped me. I just kept swimming and swimming and swimming and gradually I started to feel less sick. I started to have just water, with a few tinned peaches and banana and even a fondant fancy! I have since realized, that my body really does not need an endless supply of energy drinks!
Your best memory of the EC crossing?
The most incredible part of my crossing was definitely when I landed in France! After 12 hours and 20 minutes my swim pal Natalie helped to guide me in to France. I’d had dreams of landing on a beautiful sandy beach in the sunset, but reality was very different! Instead, I had a very inelegant scramble up the rocks of cap Gris Nez - but the feeling of achievement and satisfaction and pride was absolutely huge.
How did you feel after the crossing (immediately after, but also in the following weeks/months)?
In the months since I swam the English Channel, it took me a little while to recover my energy physically and mentally. But I am still reveling in the achievement and it almost seems like a dream! I still haven’t got back into a good routine of swimming, I am doing lots of other sports to keep fit, but I’m just starting to swim a little more because I have several challenges this year - including UltraSwim 33.3 #10Montenegro!
You have achieved many huge swimming challenges, which one are you the proudest of and why?
Out of all of my Swimming achievements, in fact, out of all of my achievements in life to date, Swimming the channel is the thing that I am most proud of. I had to overcome so many hurdles and challenges just to get to the start beach. Then to have such an incredible day, with such an incredible team, and swim from Dover to France and to be the first blind woman to do so gives me an immense feeling of pride and satisfaction. It gives me confidence in my Swimming ability, my mental strength, endurance, and confidence in who I am and what I can achieve.
You have recently won silver medal both in the Woman of the Year and Adaptive Performance of the Year categories in the WOWSA Awards, how do you feel about these recognitions?
I would never have been able to achieve all this without some amazing people. From my swim friend Heather, who introduced me to open water, to the team of ladies that supported me across Lake Geneva and my wonderful crew who supported me across the channel. My swimming journey would not have been possible without these people. The open water swimming community is such a welcoming, friendly, supportive and non-judgmental community that welcomes everybody and rejoices is in everybody’s achievements. I truly feel like I have found my tribe. Therefore, I was incredibly honored to be voted number two in the world in the woman of the year and adaptive performance of the year categories in the 2025 WOWSA awards. This means so much to me because the people who voted for me are swimmers and truly understand the challenges we face in open water. Also, there were some incredible women and incredible achievements on the list alongside me!
You will be swimming #10Montenegro this October. Do you have any worries about the event? How are you going to prepare? What are you looking forward to the most?
I am really excited about this challenge; it looks like such a fantastic event! I love the challenge of swimming point to point somewhere new, in the sea too! I also love the fact that it’s several swims over multiple days splitting the challenge up into smaller chunks. I can’t wait to meet everybody involved and get started on the swim! However, I have a lot of training to do before then! I am a little nervous, as I will be swimming somewhere completely new, without my crew! I will be taking my Radio headset and the fantastic team at UltraSwim 33.3 are going to be there to support me alongside the rest of the swimmers. We will have such an awesome time!
In January 2025, you have released a movie « Untethered ». When and why did you decide to film your English Channel crossing journey? How did it feel the first time you’ve watched the full movie? Did it give you another perspective on this achievement?
A few years ago, I was contacted by Danielle Sellwood, who is a filmmaker and had heard about me. We started making a film together about my open water swimming, and she was keen to follow my journey to the channel. Last year, sky sports became involved, and supported the making of the documentary. Danielle filmed my preparation and my swim and produced a film called Untethered. It was released to sky sports last year and has featured on sky sports and sky documentaries and will soon be released to more mainstream channels. It was very exciting to be involved in this process! Although seeing the film for the first time was quite challenging and emotional. But it certainly is lovely to have such a wonderful record of what I achieved last year.
Follow Melanie’s journey and her preparation towards UltraSwim 33.3 #10Montenegro on socials: @blind_girl_swims
