61-year-old Spanish swimming legend Juan Carlos Vallejo was first out of the water in the Travesia A Nado del Rio yesterday.
The swimmer nicknamed “Kimbo”, who represented Spain in the 1980 and 1984 Olympics, took just over 34 minutes to cross the strait from Lanzarote to La Graciosa.
Natalía Sasu, from the Nadamás club, was the first female swimmer to complete the 2.6 kilometres crossing, in just over 39 minutes.
Although almost 500 swimmers signed up for Lanzarote’s most famous swimming event, 382 finally took part, with 365 finishing the race.
It is only the second time in the last six years that the race has gone ahead without a hitch. It was cancelled due to poor weather conditions in 2019, 2021 and 2023 and because of the pandemic in 2020.