Fourteen-year-old Noelani Day has made history becoming the youngest person to complete the 22.3km Apolima Strait Solo Swim, placing third overall in Samoa, last Friday 6 April.

Noelani completed the swim in 8 hours, 11 minutes, and 12 seconds in rough, choppy conditions and was the second female to cross the finishing line.

The winner was New Zealand’s Bronwyn Copeland, who also made history becoming the first female ever to win the event. Eleven swimmers (6 female and 5 male) registered for the swim, the largest number of solo swimmers to date from USA, New Zealand, Australia, India, France and Tonga. However, during the swim, three swimmers pulled out mid-race due to the severe conditions.

It wasn’t all smooth swimming for Noelani during the race as she had to endure jelly fish stings, but even tougher was hitting the notorious Apolima Current after five hours of swimming. The teenager had to dig deep and with sheer determination and will power, it took her a few hours of swimming in almost the same spot to eventually pull through and finish the race.

Samoa Events Director, Set Afoa, said this year’s race conditions were the worse they have encountered in the history of the event. Many support kayaks flipped over during the race because of big waves and ocean swells.

Noelani’s mother, Vila Day, said the swim was both physically and mentally challenging for her daughter, but by finishing the race, she said Noelani decided to dedicate her swim to Tongan girls and youth in sports. She hopes to encourage other young Tongan girls and youth to always pursue their dreams no matter what obstacles are before them.

According to Samoa Events [2], the Apolima Strait Solo Swim is the longest in the Southern Hemisphere attracting people from all over the world. The swim route is between the islands of Upolu and Savaii.

Noelani’s participation in the challenging event was made possible by her sponsors Digicel. She swims for the Malolo Swim Club in Tonga.

Noelani will return to Tonga soon to start training for her next pool competition which will be held in Fiji next month.