It all went swimmingly… as Diana Nyad completes Cuba-Florida swim

On her fifth attempt and aged 62, the American endurance swimmer Diana Nyad yesterday finally achieved her nearly life-long quest of becoming the first person to swim 103 miles from Cuba to the United States without the protection of a shark cage.

Exhausted and sunburned, a wobbly Ms Nyad emerged from the water onto a crowded holiday beach in Key West, Florida shortly before 2pm, a full 53 hours after she set out from the Cuban capital, Havana.

Ms Nyad, who is a journalist and motivational speaker, made her first attempt to swim the Florida straits between the two countries back in 1978. She also tried three times in 2011 and 2012, the last time giving up in part because of stings to her face by aggressive jelly fish.