After finishing the 28.5-mile 20 Bridges swim in Manhattan, Alaskan Jordan Iverson next plans to swim the Catalina Channel in California and the English Channel to complete the three-swim challenge.
Jordan Iverson completed the 20 Bridge open water swim June 4, 2023 in New York. She teamed up with kayaker Alex Arevalo for the effort.
Her completion of 20 Bridges marked the first in a three-part series of open swim challenges that fewer than 300 people around the world have accomplished. She aspires to complete the triple crown of open water swimming over the course of the next year by swimming the Catalina Channel in California in September and the English Channel in the United Kingdom in June 2024.
She’s returned to the race in Sitka every year since and has expanded her repertoire of races as she’s gained more experience. “Last year I did one in Arizona that was four days — and roughly 40 miles total over those four days — called SCAR, which is in the Salt River,” Iverson said. “Each day, you swim across a different lake.”
Shortly after that, she joined the Northern Lights Swim Club and competed in club swimming year-round through high school. Depending on the distance of the race and whether a swimmer is competing solo or part of a tandem, they each have their own kayaker who paddles alongside to provide support, including nutrition in the form of feeds. Most competitions also have a power boat with crew members and official observers to keep track of their swims, feeds, weather and sea conditions, and ward off other boats.
Swimmers are not allowed to have any contact with a boat, hang on to the kayak, or touch anyone on either the boat or in the kayak. Failure to follow these rules results in disqualification. “People that live in Sitka and swim there year-round have had the lions actually come up and bump noses with them,” she said. “They’re not being aggressive or anything, they’re more just curious and checking you out and seeing what you’re doing in the water with them.”When she swims the Catalina Channel this year and the English Channel next year, Iverson said that she’ll have to be wary of getting stung by jellyfish since they frequent those waters.
“They’ve crewed for me now on a couple of swims,” Iverson said. “They did the big one in Arizona last year, and they did this one in New York last weekend.”
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