You should be my brother. Somebody else's otherworldly accomplishment does not diminish your own. They exist entirely independent of each other. It's not a competition
Yeah this was my reaction as well. Growing up swimming laps every week where the expectation was to do at least 50 before continuing with more exercises, 10 sounds crazy.
Had to remind myself that we all don’t have the same experiences or fitness levels. Swimming is one of those areas where I’ve just been doing it so long and so consistently through my life that I take it for granted.
I run a ton and am part of a run club with a lot of ex-D1 runners who can bust out a 2:45 marathon on a whim.
And we all celebrate someone’s first 5k like they just qualified for Boston. I figured most athletes were the same.
They would never belittle someone and then have some weird performative introspection about how maybe others aren’t as fast as them. Are all swimmers just ass holes or is it just you guys?
Well I just started and am 40. I ran 2 miles this morning in 14:42 so I’m not a total slouch, but my swimming form is horrendous and so it depletes my energy quickly.
The only person I’m competing with is myself from the previous day.
My favorite part of the story is that she didn’t set out to break the records—she just wanted to be the first American woman to do it. Then it became clear that she was on pace to be the fastest woman to do it, and then it started seeming like she could actually beat the men’s record too. So cool!
Not to take anything away from her because it’s incredible, but this route runs with the trade winds, so most crossings are determined mainly by weather.
Since very few people even try to row long distances like this, the resulting times will be all over the place.
Probably a combination of things. She probably took fewer/shorter breaks than the people who had done it before her, and if she had a better boat and more favourable weather then that would make a big difference, too. It’s not like a short-distance foot race where in order to be X% faster than someone you have to be X% more physically fit. When it’s spread out over weeks like that, other factors like strategy play a much bigger role.
Probably a combination of things, getting specific would just be speculation but obviously there's the weather/currents, boat design, etc. As for the major improvement I think compared to many other records there just haven't been that many attempts so the data hasn't really tightened up like you see with more conventional races.
Most records like this are being broken using purpose built equipment these days, we're past the point that speed records like this can be beaten with off the shelf equipment. Halving the previous record has to be equipment related in large part.
If you're interested in the engineering behind this kind of thing, check out the SP80 sailboat, the minor alterations to eke out a little less drag are impressive!
I’ve yet to see any comparison between her boat and any previous boats, so I wouldn’t make the assumption, personally. Ocean rowing boats have been “purpose built” for a few decades. The previous female record holder was Lia Dittton in 2020 in her purpose built boat (the Happy Socks) built in 2011. That boat was previously used by (and abandoned by) Sara Outen when she rowed/biked/kayaked around the world in 2015.
I would love to see a comparison for sure, though. Lia also hit some big challenges, including a few significant storms that overturned her boat.
Maybe I'm naive but the pool of people who have ever attempted this has to be so small that to differentiate a men's vs women's record seems silly to me
I see this hanging out with my friends while hiking too.
The men I hike with get tired easier than the women i hike with. The men also want to rest longer than the women and NEED to eat to keep going. There’s a noticeable difference when hiking with both genders. But it doesnt impact my hiking a lot anyways. I don’t mind resting a little longer, especially with my friends.
Women tend to outperform men once you get somewhere north of 400km. Men are faster in all the common distances for ultramarathons. And also there are far fewer women doing it.
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u/Acrobatic-List-6503 Jul 09 '26
She sliced the former women’s record by half and beat be men’s record by nine days.
Hawaii must be really nice this time of the year.