Following his failure to break Lebanon’s long distance swimming record last year, Wassim Nasser broke that record yesterday by completing a 45Km swim from Beirut to Amchit!
The previous record was held by Abdel-Latif Abu al-Hauf who swam 42Km back in the 1960s.
Photo via Mobi’s page on Facebook.
I earlier posted this video by Saida TV claiming that Wassim Nasser did succeed to break the national record by swimming for 47 kilometers from Saida to Beirut while in fact he actually failed and will be trying to do it once again next year.
“The weather was not good at all and Wassim [Nasser] was swimming against the wind,” Intanious Naafa, Nasser’s friend and representative, told The Daily Star Monday.
Nasser’s aimed to break a record set by Abdel-Latif Abu al-Hauf for swimming 42 kilometers from the southern city of Sidon to Beirut in the 1960s.
He sought to cover 47 kilometers.
The athlete’s route started from a point parallel to Sidon’s Crusader Castle and ended in Ramlet al-Bayda; 8 kilometers less than his original goal.
“Wassim will increase the distance next year and hopefully achieve his goal,” Naafa said, praising his friend for his persistence and great effort in achieving such a task. Source
Still, reaching Ramlet El-Bayda is still quite impressive!
Congratulations! I bet he’s going to be sleeping for a week now!
The video turned out to be false. Wassim actually failed to break the record, you can read more about it here.
Wassim Nasser, a Lebanese swimmer, is trying to swim 47 kilometers from Saida to Beirut in an attempt to break a national record that was set back in 1960 by Abdel-Latif Abu Al-Hauf who swam 42 kilometers.
According to The Daily Star, Wassim’s journey is expected to take around 11 hours, but it wasn’t clear at what time exactly did he start his trip. Anyway, you can read more about his attempt here.