James Jonsson
James Jonsson is an American marathon swimmer from Utah who holds the world record for the fastest crossing of Bear Lake, a 19-mile swim on the border of the states of Utah and Idaho. He set the record of 8 hours 53 minutes in 2010. In 1989, he also become the third person in history to complete a crossing of the 8.4-mile (13.5 km) Pailolo Channel that separates the islands of Maui and Molokai in the state of Hawaii.
Unprecedented Swims
On 17 September 2011, Jonsson became the first person to swim the length of Utah Lake, a total of 20.42 miles in the south to north direction in 10 hours 1 minute. He started from the southern shore at Goshen Bay and finished at the north shore at the boat ramp at the American Fork Harbor.
He will also attempt Bear Lake x2 – 20, a double-crossing of Bear Lake (about 38 miles total) under 20 hours on September 3rd.
Utah Open Water
Jonsson's exploits are also posted in the Utah Open Water Swimming website. Utah Open Water was created in 2009 as a tool to promote open water swimming and triathlon in the state of Utah. Its goal is to provide useful information and resources for both open water swimming and triathlon, as well as Utah specific topics and events.
