Karen Burton (born June 11, 1962) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in long-distance freestyle and open water events.

Burton easily won the woman's competition finishing nearly eighteen minutes ahead of second-place Martha Jahn.

[2] As a highpoint of her career, she finished third in the 25-kilometer swim as part of the World Aquatics Championships on Swan River in Perth, Australia, on January 10, 1991, earning a bronze medal.

Burton admitted, "I was getting very cold and started to feel tired,", noting that her closest rival Shelly Taylor-Smith, who led the early race, was pulled for hypothermia.

She retains an English Channel relay record with teammates Jay Wilkerson, Chad Hundeby, Martha Jahn, Dirk Bouma, and Sid Cassidy.

With the brisk, choppy ocean water, she lost her swim cap, goggles, and got her contact lenses wet, and still managed to outperform the competition.

On Saturday, August 1, 1998, she came in tenth in the 22.5 mile Atlantic City Ocean Marathon Swim around Absecon Island in a time of 7:45:11, taking home a prize of $875.

[1] She was a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy where she earned a bachelor's degree in Human Factor Engineering.