One hundred years ago today, on 6 August 1926, a 19‑year‑old woman stepped into the cold water at Cape Gris‑Nez with a fire in her chest that no tide could extinguish. Her name was Gertrude Ederle, and by the time she reached Kingsdown in Deal, she had not only become the first woman to swim the English Channel, she had shattered the existing record held by a man by almost two hours. In doing so, she didn’t just cross the English Channel; she crossed a boundary that had been drawn around women in sports for generations, and it often still is.
When I was training for my own English Channel solo in 2023, I did a lot of reading and tried to learn as much as possible about swimming the channel so that I could be as prepared as possible. One of the books I read was Captain Matthew Webb’s The Art of Swimming. In it, he wrote that it was improbable that any woman would have the physical endurance or ability to withstand the cold temperatures required to swim the Channel.
Improbable.
That word and phrase has stayed with me ever since because on 6 August 1926, a young woman proved him, and the world wrong. Gertrude Ederle, nicknamed The Queen of the Waves, didn’t just complete the swim. She dominated it. She rewrote what was possible. She showed that women’s bodies, women’s minds, and women’s spirits were not only capable of endurance; they were and are exceptional at it! Her legacy didn’t end at the shore. It rippled outward.
Today, 7 of the top 10 longest endurance swims in history (by hours) are held by women. The only 4-way English Channel swim was completed by Sarah Thomas in 2019 and the longest one way crossing of the English Channel was competed by me in 2023 in 29 hours and 4 minutes. Those swims alone show that women have become leaders in ultra‑marathon swimming — pushing distances, pushing time limits, pushing into routes once considered impossible. Gertrude didn’t just swim the Channel. She opened the door, and women flooded through it.
In 2024, The Young Woman and The Sea was released — a film honouring Gertrude’s life and her historic swim. I had the absolute privilege of opening the early viewing for Outdoor Swimmer Magazine in Leicester Square, standing alongside some of the best swimmers and most inspiring people I know.
I was also honoured to be part of a short film created to celebrate the premiere — a moment that felt like a full‑circle connection between her story and mine because in many ways, I feel connected to Gertrude. You can watch the film by clicking the link below:
Young Woman and the Sea | “Crossing Barriers” | Disney+
Just like Ederle, I had doubters. People who whispered. People who questioned whether someone like me could complete an English Channel solo. But apart from one moment — 20 hours into my swim — I never doubted myself. I never said, “I’m going to attempt the English Channel.” It was always, “I am going to swim the English Channel.” Determination is a current that runs deep. And resilience is something you build long before you ever step into the sea. For me though, resilience didn’t start in the sea it started with being disabled.
Every day, as someone living with a disability, you learn to navigate doubt and negativity, not your own, but other people’s. You overhear comments. You see the looks. You feel the assumptions. People seem to automatically think they have a right to know your medical history, they question what your disability is. They question why you use mobility aids, why you might use a wheelchair when they see you standing or walking short distances. People try and think that those with disabilities should fit in a box that makes sense to them, but disability and health doesn’t work like that.
Its taken years for me to realise it, but I have discovered that disability is able to teach you something incredibly important:
Resilience isn’t built in moments of triumph. It’s built in moments of misunderstanding.
It’s built in the quiet strength required to keep showing up in a world that doesn’t always know how to view you. Without the resilience I built as a result of being disabled, I don’t think I would have been resilient enough to complete my English Channel solo swim. For those of us living with disabilities we know what it means to be underestimated, we know what it means to be doubted and to have to prove again and again that we are still capable, strong and deserving. Gertrude proved that women could endure, those with disabilities prove that every day.
Many people will think that Gertrude Ederle’s story is just about swimming, but in reality it’s about defiance. I feel it is about rewriting expectations. Her swim showed the world that women belong in every arena, even the ones we were once told to stay out of!
One hundred years after Gertrude’s historic swim, women continue to lead the world of ultra‑endurance swimming. They continue to break records, push boundaries, and redefine what is possible.
And every time a woman steps into the water — every time she chooses courage over doubt — she swims in Gertrude’s wake.
I like to think that when I swam the Channel, she was there with me in spirit. A reminder that the whispers don’t matter. The doubters don’t matter. The limits don’t matter.
What matters is the belief that carries you forward. Stroke by stroke. Hour by hour. Until you reach the shore you always knew you could.
