Tsanko Tsankov: The thought of Bulgaria sustained me during the crossing of the Cook Strait
The thought of Bulgaria kept me going during the crossing of the Cook Strait. This is what our ice swimmer Tsanko Tsankov admitted to BGNES, who swam the Cook Strait in a record time – 6 hours and 23 minutes. Tsankov, who is among the Bulgarian athletes supported by the Sport in Bulgaria Foundation, was welcomed by the Foundation at Terminal 2 of Sofia Airport.
“Thank you very much for the wonderful welcome. I feel great despite the very long flight, we are almost travelling from the other side of the globe, but I still feel very happy, satisfied with what we have achieved and glad to be on home soil,” he began.
Tsankov spoke of the hypothermic crises he experienced during the swim – temperatures around 12 degrees most of the time. The Bulgarian overcame the discomfort just for the thought of success and for Bulgaria. “The water temperature was about 13 degrees, and for a large part of the time it was about 12 degrees – a phenomenon that is relatively rare and comes influence from Antarctica, cold currents. So I experienced at least four severe hypothermic crises, I was extremely uncomfortable during this time, but only the thoughts of the final success and the success for Bulgaria sustained me throughout the swim.
On his upcoming goals, he revealed, “Now I’m going to take a short break maybe around 5-6 days. After that, my training starts for the Molokai Strait Swim, the longest swim marathon in the world in Hawaii, which will be in October. Our time period is from October 1-10. It’s just over 47,000 feet long as the crow flies, but I need to be prepared for a swim of about 60 miles again in Pacific waters. What’s better is that despite the huge distance, the water temperature is significantly higher, so I won’t have to grit my teeth as much until the very end.”
Тsankov once again expressed his gratitude to the Sport in Bulgaria Foundation for its support of Bulgarian sport. “First of all, I would like to thank all institutions, companies, our partners. I am very grateful to the Sport in Bulgaria Foundation, who stood behind me once again. They are one of the few organizations in Bulgaria that stand behind Bulgarian sport. Without the support of all of them and specifically the Sport in Bulgaria Foundation, my results would simply not have been possible”, concluded our swimmer.
Source: BGNES.