Bengisu Avcı made history before sunset on Sunday, becoming the first Turkish athlete to complete the Ocean’s Seven, the world’s toughest open-water swimming challenge, after conquering Japan’s unforgiving Tsugaru Channel in a dramatic final push.
The 30-year-old ultra-marathon swimmer capped a seven-year journey in epic fashion, finishing the 15-hour swim just minutes before nightfall, narrowly beating the Tsugaru Channel’s strict cutoff time that would have ended her attempt short of the Hokkaido shore.
It was a feat that mixed mental resolve, physical precision and perfect timing against nature’s worst.
Avcı began her final Ocean’s Seven crossing at 10:30 p.m. from Japan’s Honshu Island.
The Tsugaru Channel, infamous for its violent currents and shifting tides, is widely considered the most treacherous of the seven channels.
Her plan wasn’t a straight line but a strategic arc, swimming with the currents to her left and hitting the midpoint around 7:00 a.m. after 8.5 hours in the water.
Then came the toughest stretch.
Facing the full force of the current, Avcı was swept nearly 14 kilometers off course, with just 3 kilometers remaining.
Two other swimmers attempting the same route that day had already been forced to abandon their efforts. But Avcı pushed forward, knowing time was running out.
With less than 30 minutes before nightfall – when Tsugaru swimming is prohibited – her team urged her to sprint. Sports psychologist Dr. Seren Akıcı and physiotherapist Aslı Vural shouted from the support boat, helping her keep pace and morale.
She reached the final kilometer in the last 15 minutes and surged forward.
At last, she touched the rocky shores of Hokkaido, hoisted the Turkish flag and made history.
The Ocean’s Seven is a global gauntlet of seven channel swims known for extreme conditions and deadly unpredictability. Since 2008, only a handful of swimmers have ever completed it.
Avcı’s journey began on August 3, 2018, with the English Channel – exactly seven years to the day of her final triumph.
In the years since, she took on and conquered the Catalina Channel (USA), Gibraltar Strait (Spain-Morocco), Cook Strait (New Zealand), Molokai Channel (Hawaii), and North Channel (Ireland-Scotland), each bringing its own physical and psychological torment.
With the Tsugaru Channel complete, Avcı joins the elite few who have mastered all seven.
But Avcı’s mission wasn’t just athletic.
In partnership with AXA Türkiye, she used her swims as a platform for climate advocacy.
Under the motto “Why should the future be a risk?”, Avcı championed awareness about climate change and ocean sustainability, framing each crossing as a metaphor for the urgent environmental battles humanity faces.
Her record-setting swim becomes more than a sporting milestone – it becomes a call to action.
