Oldest person to swim the Bristol Channel
Who
Pat Gallant-Charette
What
71:229 year(s):day(s)
Where
United Kingdom (Glenthorne)
When

The oldest person to swim across the Bristol Channel is Pat Gallant-Charette (USA, b. 2 February 1951), who was aged 71 years 229 days when she swam 25.7 kilometres (16 miles) from Porthcawl, Mid Glamorgan, to west of Glenthorne, Devon, UK, on 19 September 2022. The record was ratified by the Bristol Channel Swimming Association.


The swim was piloted by Aston Grindrod and Elliot Briskham, and observed by Tom Chapman of the Bristol Channel Swimming Association from the support vessel COBRA. The swim started at 5.58 a.m. and lasted for 12 hours 55 minutes 49 seconds.

The oldest male to swim across the Bristol Channel is Andrew Wolf (UK, b. 4 February 1955) who was aged 66 years 183 days when he swam between Penarth and Clevedon on 4 July 2021. His swim time of 5 hours 56 minutes 21 seconds was ratified by the British Long Distance Swimming Association.

The Bristol Channel crossing also marked the completion of the "Original Triple Crown" of open-water swimming, meaning Gallant-Charette is now also the oldest person to achieve that accolade. She had previously swam across the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland on 24 August 2016 (also making her the oldest female to have swam that strait, aged 65 years 204 days) and the English Channel between England and France on 17 June 2017, aged 66 years 135 days.