First woman swims across the English Channel (August 1926)

First woman swims across the English Channel

On 7 August 1926, the American Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel. It takes her 14:32 hours to cover the ca. 43.5 mile-long distance. The first person to successfully accomplish this feat was Matthew Webb 51 years earlier. It took him seven hours longer.