Officially called the “20 Bridges Swim Around Manhattan,” the route stretches 28.5 miles, or 45.9 kilometers. Swimmers move through the East, Harlem, and Hudson rivers and swim under 20 New York bridges.
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Tides, currents, strong and constantly changing flows have a great impact on the result, so this swim requires not only physical endurance but also very precise route and start time planning.
Swimming around Manhattan is one of the three parts of the prestigious open water swimming “Triple Crown.” The other two are crossing the English Channel and the Catalina Channel.
He completed one of them just a month ago. In August, he became the first Lithuanian to swim across the Catalina Channel between Catalina Island and the California coast. He covered the approximately 34-kilometer distance in the Pacific Ocean in 21 hours and 28 minutes.
For most of the swim, the water temperature was only 17–19 degrees Celsius. J. Narkevičius had to fight unfavorable currents, cold, and fatigue, and for the first 8–9 hours, he swam in complete darkness of the night. The crew of the boat accompanying the swimmer even recorded a shark appearing nearby.
He crossed the Catalina Channel on his second attempt. Preparing for this swim, he swam more than 600 kilometers in training over four months.
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J. Narkevičius has also crossed the Strait of Gibraltar – becoming the first Lithuanian to do so. He included Gibraltar and Catalina in his new goal – the “Ocean’s Seven” challenge, which consists of the seven most difficult strait swims in the world.
Previously, the Panevėžys native also swam across the Bosporus Strait in Turkey and the Bonifacio Strait between Corsica and Sardinia.
However, J. Narkevičius’s challenges are not limited to water. In 2025, he reached the summit of Everest and became the eighth Lithuanian to climb the world’s highest mountain. Everest completed his several years long “Seven Summits” challenge – the highest peaks of different continents.
J. Narkevičius also raised the Lithuanian tricolor on Denali in North America, Aconcagua in South America, Kilimanjaro in Africa, the Vinson Massif in Antarctica, Carstensz Pyramid in Oceania, and Mont Blanc in Europe.
Swimming around Manhattan became another outstanding achievement for J. Narkevičius and the second part of his completed “Triple Crown.” To complete the entire open water swimming “Triple Crown,” he still needs to swim across the English Channel.
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