An Open Water Swimmer's Podcast

Welcome to the second episode of a very special series of short podcasts about the building, making and experience of UltraSwim 33.3… In these episodes we will speak to previous guests and the people behind the swim event that pushes you to swim the distance of the English Channel over a long weekend in some fantastic locations. An Epic Adventure Swim Race company that is based around arguably the...

Welcome to the first in a series of episodes about the building, making and experience of UltraSwim 33.3… In these episodes we will speak to previous guests and the people behind the swim event that pushes you to swim the distance of the English Channel over a long weekend in some fantastic locations. An Epic Adventure Swim Race company that is based around arguably the most iconic open water swim...

Thank you to all my guests for Season 5... what a magical season it was. If you are planning an Open Water swim: whether it is the English Channel or perhaps your first 5km lake swim, please get in touch as would love to work with you. Please visit owswimpod.com for all the coaching packages I am offering, and a way to contact me. Until the next time: Happy Swimming!

(Available to subscribers only, episode free to play 4th April) My final guest for the season is an astonishing endurance athlete and swimmer. He has rowed across the Indian Ocean; and then decided quite casually to swim the Ocean 7, completing all seven swims from 2012 to 2018… Since then he has pioneered some ridiculous swims: including, in 2018 swimming a 90km circumnavigation around Barbados i...

(Episode available to subscribers only. Free to play at end of Season 5.) I chatted to this extraordinary swimmer back in 2024, after she had swam the 70km of Lake Geneva: breaking the British Record at the time. We also crewed together for Andrew Cornish’s Lake Geneva swim in September 2025 (Episode 6 of Season 5) and having her experience, nous and professionalism on the boat made all the differ...

(Available to subscribers only, episode free to play 21st March) Today’s guest is a phenomenal swimmer, who relishes the cold: she has completed the British Triple Crown, the English Channel, Bristol Channel and the gnarly North Channel: which she swam after being blown out for a year, only to break a record and become the earliest female, swimming that stretch of water in just under 19 hours in 1...

(Available to subscribers only, episode free to play 28th March) This guest is an incredible Para Swimmer… Ros Hardiman has spent most of her adult life in a wheelchair, having contracted Polio at age 6. She represented GB at 2 Paralympic Games and broke 8 Paralympic world records in the S7 and SB6 categories. She is an inductee into the marathon swimming hall of fame, class of 2024: having swam T...

(Available to subscribers only until the end of Season 5) This guest is a fellow podcaster, and marathon swimmer who has been undertaking some extremely long challenges… we chat about hallucinating on a 29 hour swim, optimising efficiency as a swimmer to mitigate volume, letting go of the idea of a secret key to completing a long swim, what swimming means to you as you get older and the mental gym...

(Available to subscribers, episode free to play 14th March) This episode is with Francesco Cavliere, he is an Italian marathon swimmer, who swims totally self supported and his approach to swimming is often referred to as "Swim & Explore”. Francesco likes to emphasise the environmental and historical context of the places he swims, treating swimming as a means of discovery rather than jus...

(Subscribers only from 28th Feb, free to play 7th March) I have been wanting to get Brenton on the podcast for some time - I am a big fan of his YouTube channel “Effortless Swimming” and he pops up very regularly across social media showing off his coaching talents. He very nearly made Olympic trials as a swimmer - as an Australian, a huge achievement, where competition is more than fierce; and no...

(Available to Subscribers only until end of Season 5). I chatted to Colin a while ago in 2022, a man who lives right on the water at Ullswater Lake and also teaches there at his endless pool… He is no stranger to long mileage, clocking up some ridiculous distances, including a 200km a month, and not long ago hit a 100km week. In 2025 he swam the Cook Straight and also the 28 miles of The 20 Bridge...

(Subscribers Only. Free to play at end of Season 5). I chatted to Neil a few years ago after he had completed his World Record Lake Geneva swim, a swim he completed in 22 hours and 9 minutes. Staggeringly fast for a 70km lake swim… this was also his second attempt, having swam himself unconscious the previous year due to the unpredictable temperatures one can face in the lake. Since then he has go...

Available to subscribers only until 28th February. In 2024 Vassos Alexander set his sights on swimming the English Channel. Not one to shy away from a challenge - being an ultra distance runner, he gave himself a matter of months to prepare… he also decided to write a book - journalling his training for the channel and his love and passion for open water swimming. Vassos didn’t quite make the star...

(Available to subscribers only from 14th Feb. Episode free to play 21st Feb). This episode is sort of the second part to episode 6, the chat with Andy Cornish, as on the same day and exactly the same time, Dani Wallwork set off to also complete the 70km of Lake Geneva. Both swimmers went through some of the most apocryphal conditions I have ever seen at night, and, like Andy, Dani called time on h...

Available to subscribers only until end of Season 5 (March 2026). This guest came on the podcast originally way back in 2023… he has swam the English Channel three times and has now taken to completing many more lake swims to add to his enormous swimming CV. Notably he was the first British person to swim the 70km of Lake Geneva and has since gone on to complete Lake Taupo, Lake Zurich and many mo...

(Episode free to play 14th Feb) This week’s guest is a Channel Swimmer, having also swam the 20 bridges of Manhattan, and Gibraltar - with The Cook Straight on his swim calendar any day now… Some big swims under his belt, and he isn't done yet. He has also forged ahead with a new business that reflects his passion for the water, namely Wildpool Shoes. If you haven’t checked them out, they are...

Available to subscribers only until end of Season 5 (March 2026). I have the nicest World Record Holder back on the podcast, he’s an astonishing swimmer: swimming faster than most can only dream; but has also become a global ambassador for our sport, championing change in our oceans and doing all he can to remain as front facing as possible. He completed the Ocean Seven in 2023 when he became the...

(Available 31st January to subscribers. Episode free to play Saturday 7th February) I’ve been looking forward to this episode for some time… in July 2025, Andy Cornish swam the 33km of the English Channel. He had been blown out in 2024 rather frustratingly, due to an unlucky combination of weather, pilots retiring and boat malfunctions... He also had booked to swim the 70km of Lake Geneva in 2025:...

This lady needs no introduction, having been crowned the greatest competitive open water swimmer of all time. She won three Olympic medals, Gold at Tokyo 2016, Silver at Rio 2020 and then Gold in her final Olympics in that famous 10km in Paris 2024, where the course was challenging to say the least. On top of that she is a double World Champion in the 10km, and has won more medals in the pool and...

Episode free to play at the end of Season 5 (March 2026) This bonus episode is with the "Swim Smooth" founder and all round swimmer and international coach Paul Newsome. He came onto the podcast 5 years ago and a lot has changed since then with the launch of his swim smooth guru app; designed for swimmers to create their own training plans and it also gives live feedback on your stroke…...

Today’s guest is a remarkable athlete: he completed the Ocean’s Seven in 2019 in a then world record time, and along the way suffered multiple visits to hospital, having been pulled unconscious out of the water twice on the odd delayed success; thanks largely to the tricky and unpredictable waters of the North Channel were he had asphyxia due to jellyfish stings, a collapsed lung and hypothermia....

Episode free to play at end of Season 5 (March 2026). We have another brilliant former guest on today who is rewriting the record books. He is only 18 and has completed the English Channel, Catalina, and a few years ago became the first male to swim the double North Channel. He is an astonishing swimmer who this year completed the first double Irish Triple Crown (double North Channel, double Galwa...

Having come to swimming later in life my guest this week is a former top level rower turned Channel Swimmer… she is someone who consistently trains to such high level, churning out very impressive mileage extremely consistently. She swam the English Channel on her second attempt - having had a bizarre delayed success on her first; her determination and grit was wonderful to see. Among her other sw...

My guest for Episode 2 is an Australian Paralympian, having represented his country as a runner at three Paralympic Games, before transitioning to triathlon in 2022 at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham… being totally blind from birth, he is an extraordinary athlete who has not only climbed Mt Everest to 8,300m, has competed on Dancing with the Stars, and has now taken to marathon swimming. In 2...

Episode free to play at the end of Season 5 (March 2026) This lady needs no introduction having swam the only quadruple English Channel and she was the first person to swim a double North Channel. She recently completed within a fortnight, a triple lake challenge swimming the 65km of Lake Constance, the 37km of Lake Zurich and topping the two weeks off with a 70km Lake Geneva swim. Amazing stuff:...