Christof Wandratsch (born 20 December 1966) is a long distance

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. In 1990 he won the

Lake Zurich Swim The Lake Zurich Marathon Swim belongs to the world's longest swimming marathon races. It is held annually in August and is organized by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team. The participants swim from Rapperswil Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andr ...

. In August 2005 he set the world record for the fastest ever swim of the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

in a time of 7 h 03 mins,Dover Life Channel Swimming - Successful Crossings
/ref> beating the previous record set by

Chad Hundeby Chad Hundeby (1970/1971 – June 12, 2021) was an American long-distance swimmer. As a child, he was a member of the Blue Buoy Swim School based in Southern California. In 1991, he won a gold medal in the men's 25 kilometres open water s ...

in 1994 of 7 h 17 mins. Christof came extremely close to beating the record in 2003, failing by just 3 mins, finishing in a time of 7 h 20 mins. His record was broken by 6 mins in 2007 by

Petar Stoychev Petar Stoychev ( bg, Петър Стойчев; born 24 October 1976 in Momchilgrad) is a Bulgarian swimmer who is one of the most successful long distance marathon swimmers in history. He is one of the greatest marathon swimmers of all time an ...

who set at time of 6 h 57 mins.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wandratsch, Christof 1966 births Living people German male swimmers Male long-distance swimmers English Channel swimmers 20th-century German people 21st-century German people