Martin Strel

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Martin Strel 2011

Martin Strel (born October 1, 1954 in Mokronog , Yugoslavia (now Slovenia )) is a Slovenian ultra-long distance swimmer and holds several world records in this discipline.

Career

His career began in 1992 with the two Slovenian rivers Krka (105 km in 28 hours) and Kolpa (62 km in 16 hours). He set his first world record in 2000 when he swam 3004 km in the Danube in 58 days . Also in the Danube, he set the world record in non-stop swimming in July 2001 by covering 504 km in 84:10 hours. His next projects were the Mississippi River (3885 km) in 2002 , which he swam completely down in 68 days, and in 2003 the Argentine Río Paraná (3998 km). On June 10, 2004, he took on the Chinese Yangtze, the third longest river in the world. It reached Shanghai after 40 days, one day earlier than planned.

He attracted particular attention when he swam down the Amazon in spring 2007 . The distance from the start in Peru to the finish in Belém (Pará) was 5268 km. This company also had to avoid dangers such as piranhas and alligators and the Pororoka tidal wave from the Amazon . Although Strel managed the distance and set a new world record, he had to struggle with major health problems afterwards. His son summed up his exhaustion as follows: "He was at absolute zero".

Even if the media then speculated that the Nile would be the next logical continuation of the swimming career, Martin Strel ruled this out categorically. In his opinion, the Nile is long, but otherwise not a big challenge. The Amazon is simply a completely different caliber.

During his actions, Martin Strel only sleeps about five hours a day. He trains for a year and a half for a world record attempt and then needs six to seven months to regenerate .

Big River Man

"Big River Man" is a 2009 documentary directed by John Maringouin . The film accompanied Martin Strel during his swim through the Amazon from February to April 2007. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and won the "Excellence in Cinematography Award". The film is distributed by Revolver Entertainment and the Discovery Channel .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Strel (Big River Man) - Amazon Swim 2007. In: amazonswim.com. April 8, 2007, accessed January 22, 2017 .
  2. ↑ - Gigantic Crocodile. In: amazonswim.com. April 8, 2007, accessed January 22, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Martin Strel (Big River Man) - Amazon Swim 2007. In: amazonswim.com. April 8, 2007, accessed January 22, 2017 .
  4. ↑ a b 5265 kilometers in 65 days: Amazon swimmer after world record in critical condition. In: Spiegel Online . April 8, 2007, accessed January 22, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Website of the movie "Big River Man"

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Strel, Martin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovenian ultra-long distance swimmer
DATE OF BIRTH October 1, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Mokronog