Romanian wants to swim the length of Rhine to promote Romania’s Schengen accession

Romanian librarian and endurance swimmer Avram Iancu will take on a new challenge this Sunday, July 16: swimming the Rhine’s length in about 35 days. He said this new adventure is dedicated entirely to Romania’s accession to Schengen, as he also wants to contribute to this major country goal.

“Just as rivers cross countries and continents regardless of borders, I also want the millions of Romanians to travel freely from the North Sea to the Black Sea. I wish that the hundreds of thousands of Romanians who return to the country for the holidays or on vacation will no longer stand in tiresome kilometer-long lines. I wish Romanian carriers stop wasting time and large sums of money through unnecessary borders,” Iancu said.

The 1,032 km swim is set to start Sunday, July 16, at 10 AM, from the Old Rhine Bridge in the city of Konstanz.

Iancu wants to finish the challenge in about 35 days under the watch of leading open-water swimming organizations. He will be accompanied by kayakers as water support, but also by a land support team.

Avram Iancu has become known as an endurance athlete in recent years, mainly due to his performance as a swimmer. In July 2022, he became the first Romanian to successfully swim across the Bristol Channel. He also swam across the English Channel without a neoprene suit in 2016, and the following year he swam 2,800 km along the River Danube without thermal protection.

In May this year, Iancu added a new accomplishment to his record by managing to swim across the Sea of Galilee in Israel. The 20.5 km swim took almost 11 hours and 40 minutes.

(Photo source: Iancuavram.ro)