India’s youngest open water swimmer Bhakti Sharma sets new world record by swimming across the Antarctic Ocean in record time.
Bhakti Sharma, India’s most promising open-water swimmer has done it again!
This 25 year old woman has done what no Asian or Indian has ever achieved yet!
She has set a new world record by swimming across the freezing Antarctic Ocean for a distance of 1.4 miles (2.25 km.) in 52 minutes battling sub-one degree celsius (34 °F) temperatures.
Note that the freezing point of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit (°F). She shattered the previous records of American swimmer Lynne Cox and British open-water swimmer Lewis Pugh. She has now become the youngest woman in the world and the first Asian to conquer this feat. Bhakti, who is accustomed to such laurels for her hard work, has been conferred the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award in 2010 for her previous contributions to this sport.
Sharma has been nominated earlier for 2014 World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year. She started swimming at the age of 2 years.
For the past 10 years she has traversed the entire globe adding laurels to her kitty. Her first record at the age of 14 years was an open water swim spanning 16 km from the Uran port near Mumbai to Gateway of India in 2003.
She is now the sole Indian to conquer all five oceans of the world and other different water bodies (seas and channels). She thanked her sponsors profusely, Hindustan Zinc Limited, for supporting her through all thick and thin.
Akhilesh Joshi, CEO of the company says ‘they are very proud of Bhakti Sharma for this rare achievement. The entire country is proud of her, particularly girls who would be seeing her as an inspiration to join swimming. Her achievement only proves that given the right support and opportunities India can produce many such talents.’ We are waiting with bated breath to see what her next achievement for India would be!
