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German swims from Europe to Africa in under 3 hours

The Local Germany
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German swims from Europe to Africa in under 3 hours
Nathalie Pohl swims in the Mediterranean. Photo: DPA

A young German woman has swum from Europe to Africa in a little under three hours, setting a new world record in the process.

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The temperatures were a chilly 14 degrees in the Mediterranean on Sunday. But that didn’t stop Nathalie Pohl, a 21-year-old from Marburg, crossing the straits of Gibraltar in two hours and 53 minutes, Bild reports.

The young athlete had to swim 15 kilometres from Tarifa in Spain to Point Cires in Morocco to achieve her goal.

She also faced the Atlantic currents swelling into the Mediterranean and had to make her way across one of the busiest shipping routes in the world.

Nathalie Pohl. Photo: DPA

But in the end the challenge proved simple for the young German, who knocked 10 minutes off the previous record for the treacherous stretch of water, set six years ago by Australian Penelope Palfrey.

And it’s not Pohl’s first record either. When she was 19, she set the women's record for swimming across Lake Constance.

That was a distance of 12 kilometers for which she needed 2 hours and 50 minutes, proving that Pohl is getting faster.

She has more targets in her sights too. Next on the list is the English Channel, which at 32 kilometers in length and with temperatures of 17 degrees will be her biggest challenge yet.

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