It was devised in 2008 as the swimming equivalent of the Seven Summits mountaineering challenge.
[1] The record for the fastest cumulative time for the completion of the 7 swims is held by Scot Andrew Donaldson, with a total swim time of 63 hours, 2 minutes.
[2] The record for the fastest completion of all seven swims is held by Bulgarian Petar Stoychev who achieved it in 173 days, completing on 14 August 2024.
[3] The record for the youngest ever person to complete all 7 swims is held by New Zealander Caitlin O'Reilly who was 20 years, 7 months, and 15 days old upon completion.
The LongSwims Database maintains a list of swimmers who have completed the challenge:[4]