First Russian woman to complete English Channel swim opens up about UAE's endurance swimmers

Recently, Elvis Ali Hazarika, a highly accomplished Indian swimmer, made headlines once again by completing the English Channel swim, the iconic open-water swimming challenge from England to France, in a relay mode.

A former South Asian Games silver medalist in 50m and 100m freestyle, the 41-year-old has been in hot pursuit of excellence since switching to open-water swimming eight years ago.

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His career highlights as an endurance swimmer also include a two-way swim between Cape Town and Robben Island.

“This journey wasn’t just about endurance, strength, or cold waters — it was about the fire that burns within, and the love and support that surrounds you,” Hazarika wrote on social media hours after accomplishing the English Channel relay feat. 

While India may not have produced Olympic and World Championship medalists in the pool, Hazarika is the latest in a long list of endurance swimmers from the South Asian country.

Endurance swimming in UAE

So that brings us to the UAE, a melting pot of cultures and an elite sporting destination. The UAE has not only hosted the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in 2010 and 2021, but it has also produced swimmers who have qualified for the Olympics.

So can we expect to see endurance swimmers from the UAE who can take on the world's biggest open-water challenges?

If you throw this question at Natalya Pankina, a Dubai resident and the first Russian woman to complete the English Channel solo swim, you will feel a wave of optimism.

“It's not impossible. I am hopeful that somebody from the UAE will emerge and do this in the future,” said Pankina, who represented the Russian national open-water team for more than 10 years.

Pankina then opened up about the challenges of becoming an elite endurance swimmer.

“To become a top (open-water) swimmer, you need to put in a lot of effort, you need to be mentally very strong,” she said.

“Also, the ability to cope with cold water in the sea is key. And last but not least, you need to be patient and wait for the right time after the right amount of physical and mental training.”

Outdoor swimming is gaining momentum in the UAE with the Dubai Sports Council organising a host of open-water events, including the La Mer Open Water Swim and Arena Open Water Swim.

“In the last 10 years or so, open-water swimming has become more popular in the UAE,” said Pankina, who moved to Dubai in 2010.

“So many events now happen here, and even many Emiratis participate in them. So it’s very encouraging to see this, and hopefully someone will emerge and take the big challenges (in the future).”

Need full-time swimmers

Pankina was an elite athlete who won multiple medals on the global stage, including one silver (2006) and two bronze (2004 and 2008) in the 25km open-water events at the World Championships.

The UAE, on the other hand, sees mostly amateurs jumping into the seawater.

Two such Dubai-based amateurs are Maher El-Tabchy, a businessman, and Eric Robertsen, a banker by profession, who share a love for endurance swimming.

In March this year, El-Tabchy and Robertsen joined hands and swam 29 kilometres from The World Islands to the Dubai shore to raise awareness about autism and juvenile arthritis.

“Both of them (Maher and Eric) are very good,” said Pankina, who trains swimmers at I Love Supersport academy.

“Maher is stubborn. Once he sets a goal for himself in terms of what challenge he will take, he goes hard for it. Eric is also very strong and dedicated, and I know he has the ambition to do the English Channel.”

But having an ambition alone is not enough to be ready for the mother of all endurance swimming challenges.

“They (Robertsen and El-Tabchy) have their families, businesses and jobs to take care of. They are not full-time swimmers,” Pankina said.

“They have taken some open-water swimming challenges abroad, but to do the big ones like the English Channel, you need to be completely devoted to swimming. That’s why it’s not easy for amateurs."

Making of an endurance swimmer

Pankina, who was trained to be an elite endurance swimmer from a very young age, completed the English Channel Solo swim in August 2007, becoming the first woman from Russia to achieve the feat.

She took eight hours and 11 minutes to cover the distance of 33 kilometres from England to France.  

“If I had started the swim 45 minutes earlier, I would have broken the world record for women,” the 42-year-old recalled.

“My time was 20 minutes ahead of the world record until the last five kilometres, but the weather conditions and the currents changed dramatically, and I lost out on the world record.

“Having said that, finishing it and becoming the first Russian woman to do it was a great moment in my life because the English Channel swim is so famous. But I also did a lot of open-water challenges in Russia, which were even tougher because of the conditions, the water was so cold!”

While Pankina is proud of her English Channel exploits, she hopes to produce a swimmer in the UAE who can put the country on the global map of long-distance swimming.

“The most important thing is to have a special mindset because it’s a huge mental work, the mental challenge is even bigger than the physical challenge,” she said.

“I was part of the Russian national open-water swimming team for 11 years, so I know how it works. You have to train for many years and many hours, non-stop. Physically, you need different types of muscles for long-distance swimming.”

So does the UAE have such swimmers?

“Yes, we have some good swimmers in the UAE and I have also seen some young Emirati swimmers as well who have great potential,” she said.

"I want to see the Emirati swimmers at the world championships and the Olympics. I am coaching a lot of kids, and I am trying to teach them how not to be afraid of open water and how to be friendly with it and enjoy it.

"And they are learning very well. But we need to be patient with them, and they need to be patient as well. It’s going to take time, but, as I said, it’s not impossible.”

Rituraj Borkakoty

• 

rituraj@khaleejtimes.com

Rituraj Borkakoty is Sports Editor and has spent more than two decades writing on his sporting heroes. He also loves an underdog story, so if you have one, share it with him. He would love to bring it to life.