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