Her swim was planned for early September, but the conditions were such that it was moved earlier at quite late notice – she said, ‘I was very nervous coming into this swim as it is about a month before my official slot and a strong spring tide instead of a nice neap.‘  There was clearly no need for her to be nervous though, as she completed the gruelling 34-kilometre challenge in 12 hours and 8 minutes – what a remarkable achievement!

Finya’s cross-Channel swim is also perfectly timed, coming within a fortnight of the 100th anniversary of the first solo crossing of the English Channel by a woman. On 6 August 1926, Gertrude Ederle, the subject of the 2024 film Young Woman and the Sea, completed the crossing in 14 hours and 31 minutes, smashing the existing men’s record by nearly two hours.  Finya joins an elite group of swimmers globally who have completed this challenge, but her achievement also highlights the strength of sea-swimming at Roedean: in July 2025, one of Finya’s peers and close friends, Clara, completed the solo swim, and in 2022 a 6-girl relay team successfully navigated the currents and successfully reached Cap Gris-Nez on the French coast.  Given the School’s clifftop location, overlooking the English Channel, the girls are inspired by the sea every day, but it is remarkable that these swimmers have been inspired to take on this almost unbelievable challenge.

Finya is from Switzerland, and it is wonderful that her mother was able to travel to Dover to see her off, and that her father drove to meet her when she landed on the French coast!  She was very quick to thank all those who have supported her through this challenge, including her family and friends, but also the boat pilots who ensured that she was safe while traversing the busy shipping lanes.

You might think that one Channel crossing is enough for anyone, but this is Finya’s third!  Last year, she crossed the English Channel as part of a relay team twice – the first time took the team 14 hours and 33 minutes, battling with rough conditions, and the second was very different, when her team of five swimmers completed the challenge in 11 hours and 13 minutes.  At the end of last season, she also completed a solo crossing of the Strait of Bonifacio, from Corsica to Sardinia – she wrote, ‘Swimming in a pod with two team mates, sea conditions were near perfect, aside from the discomfort of countless stinging jellyfish. This crossing epitomised the mental aspect of long-distance swimming. It is often said that these swims are eighty percent mental and twenty percent physical, and this experience affirmed that truth. Throughout the season, and particularly during this swim, our small group developed a remarkable ability to communicate without words, to anticipate each other’s needs, and to offer quiet support when it was most needed.‘

As part of her training, Finya also swam the length of Lake Windermere on 24 July, to prepare not only for yesterday’s crossing, but also for what is still to come: the Channel, was the first of the prestigious Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, and, in October, she intends to complete the 20-Bridges Swim around Manhattan Island (45.9 kilometres), and the Catalina Channel in California (32 kilometres), which must be swum in darkness because of the abundance of sharks!

If you would like make a donation to Mencap, Finya’s chosen charity, please follow this link: Finya Lang is fundraising for Mencap