Turkish swimmer Aysu Turkoglu completes Cook Strait crossing in 7 hours, 21 minutes

MUGLA, Türkiye 

Turkish open water swimmer Aysu Turkoglu completed the Cook Strait crossing Wednesday in New Zealand in 07:21:40.

Turkoglu, who entered the water at about 0600GMT, managed to cross the 27-kilometer (17-mile) challenging course in the dark.

The 22-year-old unfurled the Turkish flag and celebrated with her fans who followed her live on social media.

Turkoglu, who became the youngest Turk to swim the English Channel in 16:28 on July 30, 2022, also swam the 40-kilometer North Channel in 11:48:19 on Aug. 9, 2023, and was the “first Turkish woman and the youngest Turkish athlete” to do so.

She has completed the third stage of her dream achievement, Oceans Seven — a marathon challenge consisting of seven open water channel swims: The North Channel, Cook Strait, Molokaʻi Channel, English Channel, Catalina Channel, Tsugaru Strait and the Strait of Gibraltar.

• Aysu Turkoglu
• Cook Strait
• Marathon
• Oceans Seven
• swimmer