Christian Sartori Completes 50km Lake Garda Swim to Honor Fallen Loved One
Christian Sartori has successfully fulfilled his bet with Lake Garda. The thirty-two-year-old Trentino police officer stationed at the Riva police station took 21 hours and some seconds to swim with fins the distance from Riva to the Sirmione peninsula: approximately 50 kilometers of water.
A carefully prepared challenge against a lake that, as has happened in the past, often reserves surprises for those who face it, whether successfully or not. “A challenge born almost as a joke,” Christian admits after the long and exhausting swim, “linked to a loved one who suddenly disappeared. A debt of gratitude owed.” He started at exactly 7 p.m. on Tuesday from the Sabbioni beach in the Trentino town, greeted by a large group of people including several colleagues. Sartori immediately pushed his pace to overcome the significant temperature challenges, with waters around sixteen degrees Celsius in the Trentino section of the lake.
Details of the crossing
Approximately 3,360 strokes per hour, interspersed with short rests, then resumed at the same freestyle rhythm wearing a wetsuit and fins, ordered online from an American company that supplies Navy Seals and the Italian Marò, the special units of the San Marco battalion. At 1 a.m. yesterday morning, the first medical check confirmed his physical condition was responding very well, with the strong swimmer — who until a few years ago also played basketball for Giesse Riva, a C2 team — tackling the most difficult part of the route.
He was guided by three canoes from Società Canottieri Virtus, a cabin boat equipped with GPS — a device capable of providing directional coordinates linked to the satellite network — with volunteers from the Trentino rescue association and colleague Andrea Tisi on board.
Wind conditions and objectives achieved
Hindered by waves caused by the “Pelér,” a north wind, it was only around ten a.m. yesterday that the policeman was about twenty kilometers from Sirmione. “I never lost hope of making it,” Sartori declared upon arrival, “even though the last few kilometers were brutal due to high waves.”
The goal was not to set any record, but simply to honor a loved one through a sporting act, someone who had passed away at a young age. “I expected to complete the crossing in an estimated time of between 16 and 22 hours,” he explained, “and the task was completed within the expected timeframe.” In the last fifty years of such feats in Garda waters, several have been accomplished, but never by a local Gardesano who managed to shine so brightly.
The successful crossing was completed in 1999 by Slovenian Martin Streel (21 hours 25 minutes 32 seconds) from Riva to Desenzano, breaking the record set earlier by Marco Battaggia, a croupier from Mestre, who in June 1997 swam, using fins, in 21 hours 58 minutes. Over the years, with longer times, both Vicentine Walter Destavola and Padua’s Amoretti completed similar crossings.