Breast cancer survivor sets world record during Lake Mead swim for a good cause

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    LAKE MEAD, Arizona (KNXV) — Water levels continue to keep Lake Mead in headlines across the nation, but now the lake is making headlines all over the world because of an open-water swimmer named Sarah Thomas.

Doing something nobody else has for a cause close to her heart, Sarah Thomas just won a World Record for her impressive open-water swim that spans the length of Lake Mead — the largest man-made reservoir in the United States. It was a trip to Hoover Dam in 2021 that inspired this swim.

It happened October 7 and the Ultramarathon athlete tells ABC15’s Kaley O’Kelley she finished much faster than she expected.

“When I finished, it was like 26 hours and 45 minutes. I was like, ‘yes! I’m three hours early!'”

Swimming the length of Lake Mead, which is roughly 47.5 miles, Thomas started at the south cove of the Colorado River. She ended at the Hoover Dam.

During the swim, she never got out of the water. Instead, Thomas only refueled and hydrated while treading water, with help from her team in tow.

Thomas tells ABC15, “They followed the route and I just swam next to the boat and tried to stay awake.”

She also shares, “I never get out of the water. So that’s kind of the rule in the sport is that you don’t wear a wetsuit and you don’t take naps on the boat.”

Thomas, who is a Colorado native, says she doesn’t swim “to be the first.”

She’s a breast cancer survivor who is passionate about making waves and awareness by raising money with Swim Across America.

“So truly, during this swim, I thought a lot about all the other cancer survivors, you know, people going through treatment right now, people who didn’t make it and that really is pretty motivating in those hard moments.”

Followed by above-average rainfall and melted snowpack, Thomas says Lake Mead’s water levels were just right for the challenge… mostly.

“At like 3 in the morning, something like wrapped around my arm. And I freaked out! My immediate instinct was, ‘that’s a snake and it’s going to bite me!’ I think it was a piece of grass.”

Now that Thomas holds the world record for the longest open-water swim in a lake, she tells ABC15 she’s ready to tackle the longest open-water swim in the ocean which she says is roughly 100 miles.

Looking to donate to the Sarah Thomas effort for Swim Across America? Log on to their website.

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