14-Year-Old California Boy Becomes Youngest Person to Swim Entire 21.3-Mile Length of Lake Tahoe

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Lake Tahoe, swim
14-year-old James Savage has become the youngest person ever to complete the 21.3-mile swim across Lake Tahoe.| Photo courtesy of Erik Savage/Swim Swam

A 14-year-old boy has from California has recently become the youngest person to swim the entire 21.3-mile (34-kilometer) length of Lake Tahoe and complete the lake’s Triple Crown swims. James Savage of Los Banos completed the trip across the scenic lake, which straddles the California-Nevada line, in 12 hours on Sunday, Aug. 1, the Associated Press reports.

But with a name like James ‘Savage’, can we really be that surprised? 

Savage’s swim across the lake started on the California side of the lake in South Lake Tahoe and ended on the Nevada side in Incline Village. He later told the Associated Press that he enjoys swimming in pools but that they’re pretty much “all the same.”

“Open water, you can swim in oceans, lakes, and you get to travel around,” he said.

At age 8, Savage swam from Alcatraz Island to San Francisco. Then last August, at 13-years-old, he became the youngest person to complete the 12-mile “true width swim,” aka the “Godfather” swim because it starts on Tahoe’s west shore at the mansion featured in the “The Godfather: Part II,” according to the Associated Press. Savage also swam the 10-mile Vikinsholm route that runs along the south end of Lake Tahoe, which is known for its pine tree-lined beaches and ski resorts.

After hearing of these accomplishments from the young swimmer, all one can wonder is: what’s next?


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