Siddhartha Agarwal Becomes Oldest Indian to Swim Across the English Channel
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 4: Siddhartha Agarwal, a 49-year-old from Bengaluru, has become the oldest Indian swimmer to cross the English Channel, a distance of 42 km between England and France. He completed this remarkable feat on August 29, taking 15 hours and six minutes.
Siddhartha’s journey in the freezing waters of the English Channel began in 2018 when he was part of an eight-member relay team. This year, he surpassed Srikaanth Viswanathan, who held the previous record at age 46.
“Until I actually completed the swim, I never believed that I could actually do this. It took me a while for it to sink in. What worked for me was that I trusted my coach, I believed in the process and just focused on what I needed to do that week and that month,” Siddhartha said.
His coach, Satish Kumar, a former international swimmer, played a crucial role in his preparation. Siddhartha mentioned, “I was never a swimmer; at best I would splash around in the pool at my school as a kid. To inculcate the discipline and clock those regular hours in the pool despite my role as an entrepreneur in real estate and family commitments was the real challenge that excited me.”
Satish’s training regimen was rigorous, starting with 3 km swims and gradually increasing the distance. “Satish was a real taskmaster, his rules were simple: If you can’t achieve that day’s target of distance and pace, he would cancel out the entire session as invalid and start afresh the following day,” Siddhartha added.
With the growing popularity of endurance sports among Indians, open water swimming is gaining traction. Satish believes Siddhartha’s achievement will inspire many others. “Sid is really a man on a mission when he sets his sight on a goal. It wasn’t easy swimming the channel. Though the swim was for 15 hours, the training was for 15 months. We had trained and mastered every aspect of the channel before the swim,” Satish said.
“With his incredible discipline and dedication, Sid could fight the most challenging situations in the sea on that day. This success comes as a huge inspiration for amateur swimmers, regardless of their age, who are dreaming of achieving similar feats in their lifetime,” he added.
Doubts Revealed
English Channel -: The English Channel is a body of water that separates southern England from northern France. It is known for being very challenging to swim across because of its cold water and strong currents.
42 km distance -: 42 km is a long distance, about the same as running a marathon. Swimming this distance in open water is very difficult and takes a lot of strength and endurance.
relay team -: A relay team is a group of people who take turns to complete a task. In swimming, each person swims part of the distance before the next person takes over.
coach Satish Kumar -: A coach is someone who trains and guides athletes. Satish Kumar is the person who helped Siddhartha Agarwal train and prepare for his swim across the English Channel.
open water swimming -: Open water swimming means swimming in natural bodies of water like oceans, lakes, or rivers, instead of in a swimming pool. It can be more challenging because of waves, currents, and varying temperatures.
