Gertrude Ederle The First Woman Across the English Channel

Gertrude Ederle, an American Olympic swimmer, became the first woman to successfully swim across the English Channel on August 6, 1926.

  • Starting point: Cap Gris-Nez, France

  • Finish: Kingsdown, England

  • Time: 14 hours 34 minutes

  • Distance: Approximately 34 km (21 miles), although the actual distance swum was longer because of tides and currents.

  • She was only 19 years old.

  • Remarkably, she broke the existing men's record for the fastest Channel crossing at the time.

Her achievement was more than a swimming record. At a time when women's participation in competitive sport was still heavily restricted, Ederle demonstrated that women could perform at the highest level of endurance sport.

Canadian High Performance