Guwahati

Elvis Ali Hazarika, a renowned swimmer from Assam, has set yet another record - he created history on Friday by becoming the first Assamese to swim from the Gulf of Puck Gdansk Baltic Sea, off the shores of Gdańsk Pomerania, Poland.

Elvis, who was conferred with the Assam Pride Award in February, has already swum several challenging channels around the world.

The 41-year old swimmer says, "I have finally become the first Assamese to successfully swim from the shores of Gdańsk Pomerania in Poland to Puk Gdańsk Baltic Sea in the Gulf of Poland. It was a difficult and adventurous task, because I had to swim with lots of jellyfish, seals and other marine animals. Tremendous cold."

"The salt water, and abundant currents made my swimming journey all the more challenging.The swim was overall very tiring. It was a dream come true for me and the people of Assam,” he said.

Elvis Ali Hazarika after completing the swim

In March, Elvis swam solo across Robben Island in Cape Town, South Africa. He was the first Assamese to achieve this feat and had to go through a difficult and adventurous journey. He battled bone-chilling cold and salty waters while conquering Robben Island while being attacked by jellyfish, sunfish, and dolphins.

Earlier, Elvis Ali Hazarika of Guwahati made history by successfully crossing the English Channel in July.The star sailor from Assam swam a total distance of 78 km from Sampfire, England to Callis, France, and from there back to England. He is the first swimmer in the North East to achieve this feat.

Elvis Ali Hazarika swimming

Elvis completed his swim from Elephant Island Jetty to the Gateway of India in Mumbai in December 2023. Again he became the first Assamese to swim across this challenging 22 km sea route.

He previously swum across the North Channel in Great Britain and again, the first one from the Northeastern India to do so..

He is the oldest swimmer in India to achieve this feat. The veteran long-distance swimmer was also the first Asian relay swimmer to swim the dangerous channel from Northern Ireland to Scotland.

Elvis Ali Hazarika with his teammates

The adventurous swimmer defied the challenge of terrifyingly cold water and hulled jellyfish to achieve the rare feat of swimming 14 hours and 38 minutes across the North Channel. The water's surface temperature was 12 to 14 degrees Celsius during the time he was swimming.

Elvis was able to swim across the Catalina Channel (USA) in 2019, which is full of whales, sharks, seals, and dolphins. He then swam the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai twice in a row in the epidemic-hit 2020 and

Elvis Ali Hazarika, a devotee of Maa Kamakhya and Maa Baglamukhi, has become a symbol of inspiration to the youth of Assam and the whole of India by setting new records. The former international swimmer, who started swimming competitively at the age of seven, set some 23 national records in his career and went on to win some 68 medals, including 20 internationally.

Elvis Ali Hazarika before the start of the swim

He has not been selected for the prestigious Arjuna Award despite his enviable achievements at the national and international levels. However, Elvis did not lose heart and continued his efforts for the national adventure award, the Tenzing Norgay Award.

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For this award, an athlete is required to have performed well for three consecutive years. Therefore, Elvis Ali Hazarika has been participating in one adventure swimming expedition after another in the past, and as expected he has achieved success.