Sixteen-year-old girl completes 50th Alcatraz swim
Her younger sister, 13, who holds four world records, marked her 40th completed swim
For Mitali and Anaya Khanzode, the hardest part about swimming from Alcatraz Island to the San Francisco shore occurs in those nerve-wracking moments before they jump into the chilly water.
After that, the 1.25-mile slog is a breeze, the two teen Sunnyvale girls say matter-of-factly. And they should know, because Mitali, 16, and Anaya, 13, have both completed the swim dozens of times and each holds at least one world record in open-water competitions.
Mitali marked her 50th completed Alcatraz swim and Anaya marked her 40th completed swim on Saturday morning during a noncompetitive Water World Swim event with 45 other swimmers from around the world. They both finished with the same time: 29 minutes, 30 seconds. Mitali’s personal best is 26 minutes and Anaya’s is 28 minutes. Anaya holds the world record of completing the swim in 50 minutes at age 8 in 2013.
Mitali is looking ahead to her
100th Alcatraz swim. She also has completed a 10K swim from Golden Gate Bridge to the Bay Bridge and holds a record for youngest person to swim the Strait of Messina in Italy, which she did at age 15.
“Fifty was always a goal for me and it’s still unreal to me I’ve made that goal,” Mitali said. “I’m really in love with open water as a sport because it brings me so much joy. It’s not even a competition to me.”
Mitali received a banner from her coaches with a big “50” emblazoned on it that was signed by all of her swim mates and friends.
“I’m keeping that in my room. I’m going to put it up on my wall today,” she said.
In July, Mitali will attempt to swim from the Statue of Liberty to the New York harbor, a feat she has never attempted but said would involve currents much stronger than the San Francisco Bay.
Anaya, on the other hand, considers herself less competitive than her older sister, even though she holds four world records to Mitali’s one. Anaya’s other records are youngest to complete a round-trip Alcatraz swim at age 10, swimming the span of the Golden Gate Bridge at age 9 and the
swim between the Golden Gate and the Bay Bridge at age 11.
Anaya said she and Mitali are very close and share many of the same interests beyond swimming. Anaya has always conducted all of her open-water swims alongside her sister and said she wouldn’t be interested in doing it without her.
“It’s good to have someone who you trust in the water with you and that gives you assurance whenever you feel uncertain,” Anaya said.
They both average 10 Alcatraz swims a year, one each month except for December and January, when the water is at its coldest and hypothermia is a concern. They swim without wet suits, because they say the suits are too constrictive.
But given that both took a “polar plunge” into near-freezing water — sans wet suits — recently during a trip to Antarctica, according to mother Leena, the cold doesn’t seem to be much of a concern to the girls. They said the only reason they did a plunge instead of a swim is because there were leopard seals in the water, which can display aggressive behavior against humans.