Founder's Reflections

When we first envisioned UltraSwim 33.3, the crystal-clear waters of Hvar Island in Croatia were our dream starting point. Although Montenegro ultimately hosted our inaugural event, my heart has always been drawn to the 12th-century charm of Stari Grad and Hvar Town. Growing up on the Isle of Wight, I understand the unique allure of islands—their close-knit communities and the compelling challenge of circumnavigation. While we don't swim entirely around Hvar, the 33.3 km journey from Stari Grad, weaving through the pristine Pakleni Islands to Hvar Town, offers a collective goal that embodies the spirit of UltraSwim 33.3.

This year's #7Croatia event was a testament to resilience and adaptability. The formidable bura winds from the north necessitated a revised plan for our second swim. Despite the opportunity to explore the secluded bays of Veli Dolac, the 1 km traverse across the bay's entrance, with 30-knot gusts funneling through, presented a formidable challenge on the first day. Water temperatures rose to an ideal 19-20°C, yet the cold northern winds tested our skins swimmers, who comprised about 40% of participants.

On Day 2, we adhered to the planned course, beginning with a 2.3 km traverse of Stari Grad Bay. However, the seven secret bays that followed differed markedly from 2024. Residual swells from the previous day's winds created choppy and unpredictable conditions at each bay's entrance and exit. Within the bays, calm waters offered brief respite, but the day's swim remained challenging, especially as winds intensified towards the end, testing even our ULTIMATE option participants.

Day 3 brought favorable weather—calm and sunny conditions that provided our marathon (10.9 km) swimmers with an excellent experience. The chosen Plan B course shielded participants from the moderate to strong southern winds that developed by midday. This strategic decision was particularly appreciated by our slower swimmers, who often face the brunt of worsening conditions. A final, untimed celebratory swim through the Pakleni Islands into the heart of Hvar Town, joined by some F3 non-competing partners, was a fitting conclusion to what was arguably the most challenging UltraSwim 33.3 since our inaugural test event in Montenegro in 2022. The magnitude of the challenge was matched by the growing energy and camaraderie among swimmers—never before had we witnessed such spirited singing on the boats on the final day, culminating in a memorable prize-giving ceremony at the Hvar Town Arsenal.

The competition at the front was intense, with the male category decided only on the final day. Equally inspiring were the stories of perseverance and determination from those further back in the pack. Many participants surpassed their personal goals, experiencing transformative moments as they overcame doubts and pushed through mental and physical barriers. The collective energy once again propelled many to their own personal victories.

Our inaugural full ULTIMATE 22.2 and ULTIMATE 33.3 options were resounding successes. Despite challenging conditions in the latter stages, Stephane Guisard set a new 33.3 km non-stop record between Stari Grad and Hvar Town, completing it in 10 hours and 29 minutes. Four out of five ULTIMATE 22.2 participants completed this ultra-marathon challenge, which we plan to repeat at #12Croatia in May 2026. See ULTIMATE dedicated Results section for more info.

A special mention goes to the largest group we've hosted so far in the shorter introductory 4-day formats: 11.1 DISCOVERY and 22.2 BUILD. Their stories of determination and overcoming fears were truly epic, and many have expressed intentions to tackle the full UltraSwim 33.3 next time.

Organizing the Croatia event presented its own set of challenges, particularly with the strong winds on the first two days. Nonetheless, this venue remains one of our flagship locations, offering exceptional hotels, breathtaking swimming scenery, and renowned Croatian hospitality. Entries for 2026 are now open, and we look forward to welcoming both returning and new swimmers to this unforgettable experience.

Winners – Skins Category (No Wetsuit):

• Women: Cheyenne Morris (USA) – 9:43:27

• Men: Christopher Bryan (IRL) – 7:59:25

Winners – Wetsuit Category:

• Women: Raquel Ranito (POR) – 9:57:08

• Men: Seguti Nucada Nadim (BRA) – 7:59:16

Special Awards:

• Longest Time in Water (33.3 'CLASSIC' Finishers Only), prize from RED: Karen Miller – 19:34:24

• Most Improved Swimmer, prize from deboer : Glen Macfarlane (Improved from 116th to 89th place)

A final shout-out to Kamal Nasrollah for completing his fifth UltraSwim 33.3. He'll be the only participant sporting a swim cap adorned with five Finisher droplets at our next event, #8Switzerland in September.

STATISTICS CORNER: 82% of entries completed all stages and went home with the coveted Finisher droplet for #7 - one of them, Kamal, making that his record-breaking 5th droplet, with Ian Tyers clocking his 4th. 50% of the female entries completed the challenge in skins (ie no wetsuit), with just 2 DNF (Did Not Finish), but only 23% of the men! On day 3, the Marathon swim of 10.9km, 15 swimmers opted to compete with the additional constraints of the Marathon Swim Federation (MSF) rules - no watches, no touching any boat, no drafting behind other swimmers, no neoprene is sight…and for the first time the event also hosted 8 swimmers who took on the new ULTIMATE 22.2 and ULTIMATE 33.3 format - non-stop swims, held on day 2. More on that later as it deserves its only section, but we already have swimmers signed up for this ultra-format in 2026 - great preparation for a big channel crossing like the English Channel. At the other end of the experience scale, we had a record 16 swimmers enter in our introduction 11.1 DISCOVERY and 22.2 BUILD formulaes - shorter distances each day - some of them immediately signed up to come back and take on the full 33.3 CLASSIC in 2026.

“In 2019 I could not swim in open water. In 2025 I’m a fifth time finisher in UltraSwim 33.3. In 2021 my wife Nadia (Nasrollah) didn’t know how to swim. In 2023 she finished her first UltraSwim 33.3 event and has been coming back ever since. This is our medicine. It’s either the doctor or swimming. UltraSwim 33.3 brings all my stress out and allows me to hopefully be a better person. Thank you”, said Moroccan Kamal Nasrollah, who completed his fifth UltraSwim 33.3 challenge with the overall time of 11:05:23 

Searchable age group results (MSO) HERE

33.3 Winner Skins: Cheyenne Morris (USA) 9hrs 43m 7s - Christopher Bryan (IRL) 7hrs 59m 25s

33.3 Winner Wetsuits: Raquel Ranito (POR) 9hrs 57m 08s - Nadim Seguti (BRA) 7hrs 59m 16s

22.2 Winner: Natalia De Araujo Batista (BRA) 7hrs 49m 45s

11.1 Winner: Sam Pipon (GBR) 6hrs 04m 07s

Replay all the swims with our Swimtelligence tracking data, by GeoRacing below.

You were nearly 700 entries in the end of 54 nationalities, over two-thirds of you nailed the challenge in full, 9 of you were picked out as runner-ups (thanks to Precision F&H, TheMagic5 for the cool prizes), and yes one lucky winner of the #10Montenegro free entry!

 If you're not a prize winner this time, you can still benefit from some amazing offers for this our original venue in wonderful Montenegro this October!

From Falmouth, Maine, on the still very cold eastern seaboard of the USA, congratulations to Meri Gilson! Not only did Meri complete the challenge, the only swim she did over the 33 days in a nice warm pool was the 5km session. Why is that impressive? Because in her own words, the water in the Bay has been in the low 40's Fahrenheit (about 7-8C !). To Meri and her tough swimming mates, hats off (or neoprene ones on!), epic swimming, and we look forward to welcome you and your crew to Montenegro in October!

WINNER:

Meredith Gilson - United States

Runners up:

Bruce Williamson - United Kingdom

Joëlle Gaspoz - France

Rémy VIALLON - France

Michael Lyons - United Kingdom

Elizabeth Pudney - United Kingdom

Eduardo Campoy - United States

Barbara Levy - United States

Anna Chapman - United Kingdom

Laufey Thorsteinsdóttir - Iceland

Worth a mention - whilst the goal was just 33.3km, Simon Emm swimmer from #2Montenegro in 2023, completed an amazing 333km in the 33 day challenge window. You read that right. 3 hundred and 33! Stephane Guisard also notched up the 3rd biggest amount at 190km, as part of his preparation for our first ULTIMATE option at our next event in May in Croatia - where he'll take on a straight 33.3km from Stari Grad to Hvar! We had other swimmers nailing precisely 33.3km, not a meter more or less (nice one Phil Caistor, our extraordinary aquaman who lays our racemarks at the events). Plenty of you used the challenge to get back to it after a period out of the water "Thanks so much for this - its been the catalyst for me getting past a difficult period in life, and back to looking forward to swimming again!" Gill, UK.

Thanks to OpenSwim for their new app (sorry to those outside of Europe, its coming soon), and to everyone who shared their super swims on Strava too - our Strava Club numbers almost 1200 of you now. We're going to be posting new training session ideas on both platforms going forward, and we've already announced that #11Virtual in our event series will be in the first quarter of 2026 - for sure a 33.3km in 33 days challenge again, but maybe a 22.2 and 66.6km version?

In the meantime we're going to see a lot you around Europe this summer, and even more of you in 2026 we hope - entries are open!

KEY STATS: 205 entries, 194 on the start line, 152 Finishers! See how fast they swam at the bottom of the page…

Back to Montenegro for a third time, and it would prove a trickier set of weather conditions than the sun-soaked #2 event in 2023 - but once the thundery weather was dealt with, somehow everyone pulled together to get the 33.3km done, and the event finished once again in stunning conditions on the shores of Montenegro. A fully sold out event had 194 eventual starters, of which 42 didn’t quite complete every stage of what had been probably one of the most challenging so far on the marathon swim day 3 (at least if you exclude the test event in 2022!). Everyone deserved their participation medal though - and a strong contingent also opted for the 22.2 shorter distance and did themselves proud to nail it!

On the female podiums there were Swedes, Brits, French and Germans, and on the mens they came from Germany, Australia, France, Switzerland and Spain! Michael Dieckmann displayed a masterclass in race management striking away from his competitors on the 10.6km marathon swim to once again take both overall win and the skins category, with Benoit Lamour taking first place in wetsuits mens. Asa Nystrom from Bromma club in Stockholm took the female skins prize, with fellow Swede Annika Ericsson (Kraken) in 3rd, with Celia Pointe from France sandwiched in between. In the wetsuit category, it was Sabine Kost, coached by yet another Swedish team Envol who took first place, with Heather Schelhase (GB) in second, and Marie Tissier at her second event in third.

One of the older competitors, and in their first big open water swim of any kind, Lausanne based Italian Stefano Agostini was awarded the Selkie Endurance robe, being the last Finisher in 15 hours and 19 minutes - some 7 hours more swimming time than Michael Dieckmann.

Event Ambassador, adaptive athlete and coach, Sophie Etheridge swam a super event, showing us just how anything is possible - and a great way to follow up on her 29 hour English Channel swim the summer before. Demonstrating the incredible diversity at every event, we also had Magic5’s Ambassador Ivan Puskovitch, fresh from Paris 2024 - he’ll be back as he has unfinished business, not managing to complete the full 33.3 due to a shoulder injury.

Overall after #5, there were just two swimmers (Kamal and Becky) with 4 Finisher droplets to their name, and 9 swimmers with three of them. In 2025, swimmers will be getting their own personalised swim hats with the number of Finisher droplets they’ve attained on…

Searchable age group results (MSO) HERE

Winner Skins: Asa Nystrom (SWE) 9hrs 13m 45s - Michael Dieckmann (GER) 8hrs 11m 15s

Winner wetsuits: Sabine Kost (GER) 9hr 15m 09s - Benoit Lamour (FRA) 8hrs 19m 37s

And below you can replay in full quality data mode all of the #5 swims via our GeoRacing platform, with the support of Insiders.live and Fourth Cape. This is the system we also use for live tracking and safety at all our events (the kayaks and boats are also tracked)

KEY STATS: 61 entries, 46 Finishers - Mamma Mia! Swim speeds at the bottom of this page!

An amazing Pioneer event on the Mamma Mia film famous island of Skopelos! Limited to 61 swimmers on the start line, the weather would throw a lot of challenges at both race organisers and swimmers - hot, sunny but very windy on two of the days! But with a lot of teamwork all round, 46 determined open water maestros got their Finisher droplets - and those that didn’t had an incredible experience anyway!

Unusually for Michael Dieckmann he was de-throned in to second place by Brazil’s much younger superstar swimmer Samir Barel who demonstrated a masterclass in open water swimming across a host of conditions. Frenchman Stephane Guisard, who competed in all three events in 2024, completed the Mens scratch podium and took the wetsuit honours. Just 55 seconds overall behind him, was the first female swimmer, Samir’s partner Carole Morelli, holding off Ceri Edwards return from #2 honours by just over 2 minutes only. In Women’s wetsuit category, Britain’s Rachel Carter would take the win, but by only a minute overall ahead of France’s Sophie Monjalet.

A very happy Simon Griffiths, founder of Outdoor Swimmer Magazine, came to Greece and after two failed attempts to get a Finisher droplet in Montenegro and Croatia, nailed it and went home with a big smile clenching his first droplet! Kamal Nasrollah and Becky Frankel both completed their FOURTH UltraSwim 33.3, and remained at the end of 2024 the two swimmers with the most Finisher medals in the event’s history to date. Julie Globus from the USA was awarded the Selkie robe endurance prize for being the ‘last’ Finisher, superbly finishing the challenge, and in more than double the time in the water than Samir. Dutchman Frans Jonker was given a special mention too at the prize-giving - he came with the idea of just taking on 22.2km, and went home a full 33.3 Finisher!

Day 3 of the event, traditionally the marathon swim day, started wit 35-40 knots of wind and big breaking waves right in front of the hotel. With no option to go anywhere by boat, organisers improvised and managed to get 2 separate 5km races done, in two different locations - a long day for everyone, and no actual straight marathon swim this event - but 33.3km overall was still achieved. Great effort everyone!

Searchable age group results (MSO) HERE

Winners Skins: Carol Morelli (BRA) 8hrs 37m 50s - Samir Barel (BRA) 7hrs 54m 01s

Winners wetsuits: Rachel Carter (GBR) 11hr 03m 07s - Stephane Guisard (FRA) 8hrs 36m 55s

And check out the full tracking replays in real time or sped up…

KEY STATS! 114 entered, 103 on the startline, 79 Finishers.

Founder Mark Turner often says he’d planned Croatia as the first venue for UltraSwim 33.3 - a favourite sailing ground of his - it turned out to be the second destination, but it was no less fabulous for it! Stormy weather the day before the event kicked off played havoc with travel plans, but the 4 days of racing in the end were held in fantastic conditions just as you’d hope for on Europe’s ‘sunniest island’. The point to point course took the swimmers from Stari Grad to Hvar Town via the magical Pakleni islands.

A new scratch winner surfaced around the island of Hvar, Lausanne based Frenchman Vincent Gremeaux completing the 35km course just a few seconds ahead of Belgium’s Olivier Delfosse - who nonetheless took the skins category prize. Portugal’s life and soul of the party Mariana Santos took the female wetsuit category, just a few minutes ahead of Croatia’s very own Dina Levacic - famous in her homeland for completing the tough Oceans7 challenge. 79 Finishers out of 103 starters this time around, with the longer than usual 11.6km marathon swim day to the Pakleni Islands taking its toll on the Finisher numbers.

Three swimmers would receive here their 3rd Finisher droplet - Kamal Nasrollah and Younes Marrakchi from Morocco, and Becky Frankel from the UK - the only 3 to have done all 3 first editions and finish them fully. Ingrid Verdonck was awarded the Selkie robe prize - in 79th position, the swimmer earning their Finisher droplet, but in the longest time - working hard in the water for a full 10 hours longer than Delfosse - respect! And with severe back pain to contend with too.

The event had some amazing Ambassadors attend as well as our Global one Andy Donaldson. Barry Murphy Triple Crown swimmer from Ireland, Sweden’s Anna-Carin Nordin 2nd ever (and 1st woman) to swim the Oceans7 Challenge, and French ‘prison-break islands like Alcatraz’ specialist Jacques Tuset to mention just some of the amazing swimmers in Croatia.

Our first amputee competitor, Stephen White would nail the event, (and we’d manage to get his hi-tech and very expensive non-watertight artificial leg back to him at every finish line intact!) and go on to be nominated for Adaptive Athlete of the year at the WOWSA Awards 2024.

Mexico’s Jose Salas would get a Special Award too - having just a few years ago survived a diving accident (where he was left in the water as the dive boat returned home, as a non-swimmer), he fully embraced open water swimming and completed his first big challenge (and what a first challenge to take on!)

But it would be Nikki Meijers who would steal the organisations’ hearts - struggling on day 1 from the go, recent family loss overcoming her efforts to swim. Through a combination of grit, determination, her swimming friends (old and new) and passionate support from the on-water team, each day she got stronger and completed more and more - finishing the final days stronger than ever! What emotions for everyone on the finish line!

Searchable age group results (MSO) HERE

Winners skins: Dina Levacic (CRO) 10hrs 04m 47s - Olivier Delfosse (BEL) 8hrs 31m 56s

Winner wetsuits: Mariana Santos (POR) 09hrs 50m 01s - Vincent Gremeaux (FRA) 8hrs 31m 13s

And below you can watch all the tracking replays of all the swims…

KEY STATS: 118 starters, 93 official Finishers

Here we go, our first full scale event - and if we had any doubts whether this would scale up, they were swept away by the amazing stories that came out during and after the event from our incredible growing 33.3 family of swimmers from all over the world. Incredible weather, no big stormy days like on #1, and 93 incredible swimmers of all levels nailed the full event and got the coveted Finisher droplets, out of 118 starters.

At the front Germany’s Michael Dieckmann took the wetsuit category place overall, having fought the Skins male category winner Paul Newsome for line honours in the first two days before switching to wetsuit. Brazil’s famous young Channel swimmer Thais Sant’anna took the female skins category, and the most energetic and lovely Ceri Edwards from the UK took the female wetsuit prize.

New to open water swimming, Moritz Eggert, Germany’s famous music composer, won the ‘most improved swimmer’ award, climbing from last place on day 1 steadily up the rankings. He’d be back in 2024 with even more progress! Nadia Nasrollah won the Selkie Robe Endurance prize - incredible performance to finish her first big open water swim having come to the test event as a non-participating partner to Kamal - coming back one year later and nailing inside the cutoff the entire course!

Michael Lemmel, founder of Otillo SwimRun (and the entire Swim Run concept) was persuaded to remove his giant paddles and running shoes, and go endurance swimming! He nailed it! And has ever since been part of the Advisory Board for UltraSwim 33.3.

For the first time we introduced an option to swim under Marathon Swim Federation (MSF) rules on the marathon (>10km) day 3 swim - 20 swimmers nailed this ‘extra’ challenge - no neoprene, no touching the feedstations or kayaks, no watches, no drafting behind another swim. This became an option on all our consequent marathon stages in future events.

Winner skins: Thais Sant’ana 8hrs 23m 26s - Paul Newsome 7hrs 32m 19s

THE PIONEERS!

Where it all begin! #1Montenegro was our test event, just 27 swimmers, some mates, some elites, and a few contacts from around the world even at this first small scale. One transfer boat for everyone, lots of smiles, lots learnt - but still 14 Finishers and a solid race for the podium with Paul Newsome of Swim Smooth fighting to hold off Owen Chambers from Singapore each day. Conclusion post event - YES we should try and launch the UltraSwim 33.3 dream properly!

Winner Skins: #1 Becky Frankel 12h 28m 18s #1 Paul Newsome 8h 49m 31s