Onlookers amazed as champion swimmer spends hours in frigid water

On Republic Day, 17-year-old swimmer Shubham Vanmali amazed all the onlookers as he swam in a pool filled with ice water for four hours. Vanmali, a Nerul resident, was also the youngest swimmer to swim across the shark-infested and freezing Strait of Gibraltar in 2014.

Vanmali in conversation with iamin said that both Strait of Gibraltar and the English Channel are cold and he had practiced swimming there before attempting to cross the water bodies. Vanmali swam for four straight hours, from 4.30 pm to 8.30 pm, at Vashi’s Father Agnel Sports Centre. The swim was monitored by the swimming coach at the sports centre, Gokul Kamat. Onlookers cheered as Vanmali completed the task.

Vanmali now has his eyes set on swimming across the Catalina Channel in USA, Cook Strait in New Zealand, the Irish Channel near England, among many others. He also wants to complete Ocean’s Seven, which consists of seven long-distance open-water swims.

For the longer version of this report, click here