Teenager Ben Freeman has become the first Canberran and the third-youngest Australian to swim the English Channel.
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The 17-year-old completed the 32-kilometre journey from England to France in nine hours and 10 minutes when he arrived in the French city of Calais on Monday.
Freeman had his mother and her three sisters beside him the entire way on the support boat, Anastasia.
His coach, Les Barclay, told the ABC that Freeman was an inspiration to other swimmers at the Queanbeyan-Telopea club.
"He is a determined young man who has a real passion for distance swimming, he took this upon himself without any due pressure, he lives for distance swimming," he said.
"He is an inspiration to the ... younger generation not just in his own club but the whole swimming fraternity. He gets out and motivates them.
"Ben is a leader, very highly motivated, leads by example, and he is only ever too willing to share his experiences and motivate the young athletes.
"At the same time he is a very studious athlete who balances life and his studies and his swimming commitment to a tee. I think he is very high achiever at school."
To get used to the conditions, Freeman packed on 15kg and swam between 60km and 100km a week for the past nine months.
He has used the chilly Canberra winter to his advantage, swimming in the 12-degree water temperatures at the outdoor pool at the Phillip Swimming and Ice Skating Centre to simulate the 16-degree temperatures in the English Channel.
Former AFL player Campbell Brown failed in his quest to swim the English Channel.
Brown – who played for Hawthorn and the Gold Coast Suns before hanging up the boots in 2013 – trained for 18 months and increased his weight by 10kg, but pulled out nine hours and 25 minutes into his attempt last month.
Freeman was well under the average crossing time of 13 and a half hours.
More people have climbed Mount Everest than have swum the English Channel since it was first achieved in 1875.
