Strel Breaks Distance Record, Swims the Length of the Yangtze River

By Phillip Whitten

SHANGHAI, China, July 31. SO you think you're a distance swimmer?

Think again.

Fifty year-old Martin Strel of Slovenia is a distance swimmer. In fact, Strel can now claim he is the greatest distance swimmer of all time. Or at least the most tenacious.

Strel broke his own world distance swimming record when he completed a 2,875-mile (4,600-km) swim of the Yangtze river, according to Chinese media sources.

Strel stroked his way to Shanghai on Friday, 50 days after entering the river in Yunnan province in the southwest, according to the Shanghai Daily. The feat broke his own 2002 record of 3,800-km.,when he swam the length of the Mississippi river.

Strel also was the first person to swim the entire length of the Danube River in central Europe, covering 3,004 km in 58 days. He also holds the record for non-stop swimming, having covered 504 km of the Danube in 84 hours in 2001.

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