Trudy ederle

Young Woman and the Sea: Directed by Joachim Rønning. With Daisy Ridley, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Stephen Graham, Kim Bodnia. The story of competitive swimmer Gertrude Ederle, who, in 1926, was the first woman to ever swim across the English Channel.

Gertrude Ederle after being first woman to swim English Channel 1926

Gertrude Ederle became deaf after swimming the English Channel.

On the morning of 6 August 1926, the American Gertrude Ederle became first woman to swim the English Channel - her time was 14 hours and 34 minutes beating the men's record by more than two hours.

Gertrude Ederle became the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926 after only five men had completed the task. It took only 14 and a half hours for the 19-year-old to make the 35-mile swim in the freezing cold water, topping the men's record by almost two hours. She also won a gold medal and two bronze medals at the 1924 Paris Olympics.

Gertrude Ederle

Gertrude (Trudy) Ederle becomes the first woman to swim the English Channel. Born in NYC in 1905, she first attempted the swim in 1925, but was disqualified after she was taken out of the water because her coach thought she was in peril. A year later, she attempted the swim again and was successful.

On this day in 1926, Trudy Ederle not only became the first woman to swim the English Channel, but only the sixth person to do so. And oh yeah - she beat the existing men's record by nearly two hours. My book about her, Young Woman and the Sea, is my best to this point in my career, and I've also written about her for the juvenile/YA market in Yes She Can! Women's Sports Pioneers. Celebrate with a swim, then a good book on the beach.

"Young Woman and the Sea" is not a terrible movie about legendary swimmer Gertrude Ederle — but it's not a terribly good one either, writes our critic.