Matthieu Bonne, an athlete from Belgium, has broken the world open water swimming record by swimming 131 kilometers in the Gulf of Corinth in western Greece.
Bonne swam for 60 hours and 55 minutes in the Gulf of Corinth and managed to cover 131 kilometers. He chose this location because he could swim more than 100 kilometers in a straight line.
“My first goal is to break the current world record of 125.7km, but if I feel good again after this distance and Poseidon favors me, I intend to swim as much as I can,” he said before starting his attempt.
Matthieu Bonne started on Thursday, a day later than planned due to strong winds and very high waves in the Corinth Gulf.
“His whole body, but especially his lips were very sore because of the salty sea water. In addition, there was a strong wind at the end,” his team said.
“It was a tough finish, but despite his battered body, Mathieu kept smiling and moving forward,” they noted, daily ethnos reported.
The previous record was held by Neil Agius from Malta who had swam 125.7 km.