Autistic Turkish swimmer conquers Catalina Channel

LOS ANGELES

(AA Photo)

Autistic Turkish ultra-marathon swimmer Tuna Tunca crossed the Catalina Channel to complete the fourth leg of the Ocean’s Seven challenge despite unusually high waves and strong tides.

The 22-year-old athlete departed from Doctor’s Cave on Santa Catalina Island in California, swimming the 35-kilometer route to Smuggler’s Cove in Los Angeles. He finished the grueling open-water course in 11 hours, 3 minutes and 20 seconds.

During the route, the swimmer navigated severe tides and thick kelp forests reaching 50 meters in length, which created significant difficulties. His coach Mert Onaran, Emre Deliveli and his mother Gül Nur Tunca supported him from an escort boat throughout the crossing.

Tunca previously conquered the English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar and the North Channel. He achieved a historic milestone by swimming the 40-kilometer North Channel in about 16 hours.

The young swimmer, who hails from the western province of İzmir, began his aquatic journey at 3.5 years old when he jumped into a pool without a flotation device. Recognizing his profound connection to the water, his mother supported him in starting swimming lessons.

Before his Ocean’s Seven campaign, Tunca completed a 36-kilometer swim from Capri Island to Naples alongside his coach, crossed the Bosphorus and Çanakkale straits and became the first autistic individual to swim from the Greek island of Chios to the coastal town of Çeşme.

The Ocean’s Seven is widely considered one of the most formidable open-water swimming challenges in the world, consisting of seven treacherous maritime channels. Bengisu Avcı currently stands as the only swimmer from Türkiye to complete the entire marathon swimming series.