Maltese ultra-endurance swimmer Neil Agius has officially surpassed the world record for the longest swimming distance in the ocean. It took Agius more than 50 hours to swim 125 km from Linosa to Malta, beating the previous record of 124.4 km held by the British Chloe McCardel.
Former Olympic swimming instructor Neil Agius arrived in Xlendi, Gozo, on Wednesday at around 10 pm, and was greeted by a crowd of supporters who cheered him on a difficult route, after which he became visibly weak and tired, according to LovinMalta.
It is not the first time Agius has swum long distances; he raced from Sicily to Malta last year. However, the ultra-endurance athlete knows no bounds and has managed to break a world record.
In addition to showing incredible strength, Agius made this gesture to raise awareness of his "Wave of Change" initiative, in which he asked supporters to help the environment by collecting pieces of plastic from the sea.
Initially, Angius wanted to start the course in Tunisia and finish it in Sicily. However, the unfavourable weather conditions forced him to change at the last minute, and he chose to leave Linosa.
Agius struggled with injuries, bad weather and mental challenges on his way to Gozo, but managed to complete the race with the support of his team of 22 people.
Agius said:
"The hallucinations were quite strong, but I was prepared and my doctors kept reassuring me that there was nothing in front of me, urging me to just keep swimming, one hand in front of the other. That’s what we did and that’s how we got home.”
