100 years since Gertrude Ederle’s historic English Channel swim
By Emily Schopfer
HIGHLANDS – On the morning of Aug. 6, 1926, then 20-year-old Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle began what would later be known as her historic swim across the English Channel. Fourteen hours and over 35 miles later, Ederle had swum from Cap Gris-Nez, France, to Kent in England. She had become not only the first woman to swim the channel, but had also broken the previous men’s record by nearly two hours.
Now 100 years later, Highlands is honoring Ederle’s record-breaking swim with its own celebration for the history books: Trudy Fest.
On Aug. 15 in Veterans Park, Highlands will celebrate the 100th anniversary of Ederle’s swim in the town where she trained and found her motivation. The free event will run from 3 to 8 p.m., and will feature live music by DJ Johnny Jonze, a variety of food trucks, a wine and beer garden, specialty vendors, guest speakers and other activities. The rain date is Aug. 16; more information is available at highlandsnj.com.
Raised on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Ederle and her German immigrant family often summered at a small cottage in Highlands. It was there that Ederle found her sea legs. At just 7 years old, Ederle fell into the Atlantic Ocean. She survived, and the event didn’t scare her – it motivated her. Ederle’s father tied a rope around his daughter’s waist and let her jump off a dock – more than once, according to the Trudy Ederle Foundation (TEF) – thus beginning her love affair with the water.
At age 18, she swam in the Paris Olympics and brought home three medals: gold with the American 4×100-meter freestyle relay, bronze in the 100-meter and bronze in the 400-meter. By 19, she held 29 amateur world and U.S. records. According to the foundation, Louis Handley, Ederle’s trainer, told the press that what made Ederle unique wasn’t that she raced against other swimmers, but that she raced against herself – and the water.
Ederle’s first channel swim attempt was in 1925. Almost nine hours into her swim, a misunderstanding cost her a disqualification. The same year, however, Ederle also completed a 17.5-mile open-water swim from Battery Park in New York City to Sandy Hook in just over seven hours. The Olympic champion became the first woman to swim the length of Lower New York Bay; the course would later be named The Ederle Swim.
In 1926, she stepped into the channel at Cap Gris-Nez, France, for a second time. But this time, she would be emerging from the water in England. With olive oil in her eyes and layers of lanolin, Vaseline and lard on her skin for warmth, she battled currents and water temperatures that rarely exceeded 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Ederle made it to England’s coast in 14 hours and 34 minutes, two hours under the existing men’s record, according to the foundation.
When she returned home, she was showered with parades, celebrations and even some new nicknames. She was dubbed “America’s Best Girl” by President Calvin Coolidge. The press called her “Queen of the Waves.”
But seven years after her famous channel swim, Ederle suffered a severe spinal injury from a fall at home. To make matters worse, the childhood hearing loss she battled after a bout of measles had been worsened by 14 hours in frigid salt water. Even fighting these silent battles, she still was the determined athlete who swam the channel.
She began working at the Lexington School for the Deaf in New York, where she taught children to swim.
Her legacy was so strong that Disney released a 2024 film about her historic swim, “Young Woman and the Sea,” starring Daisy Ridley as Ederle.
The Trudy Ederle Foundation, established in early 2026, was formed not just to celebrate Ederle’s 1926 accomplishment but her entire legacy. The foundation works to promote movement and combat what they call “the silent pandemic”: physical inactivity. “TEF is developing grant approaches for prevention, resilience and a return to movement,” reads the foundation’s website.
Ederle passed away at age 98 in 2003, but her story still inspires those who hear it to this day. Highland’s Trudy Fest is more than a community celebration of her English Channel swim; it’s a remembrance of all her discipline and hard work leading up to the swim, and everything she accomplished after as well.
“Trudy Fest is a borough event run by the Highlands Business Partnership; local groups are participating and if the weather holds it will be outstanding,” said Sheila Weinstock, president of the Historical Society of Highlands, who referred to Ederle as an “extraordinary athlete who loved Highlands.”
Weinstock said 50 members of the extended Ederle family are expected to attend Trudy Fest. “Mary Ederle Ward, Trudy’s niece, has been extraordinary in providing me with her aunt’s personal history and connections – a tremendous help. For example, her connection with the International Swimming Hall of Fame allowed us contact with gold medal Olympians who have sent video tributes. We expect to show them – and other videos as well – at the event,” she said.
Additionally, Weinstock added that Highland’s Mayor Carolyn Broullon will proclaim Aug. 15 as “Trudy Ederle Day,” adding to the “significance of honoring the legacy of our hometown hero.”
“We are very excited to celebrate this amazing milestone by such an accomplished woman,” Broullon said. “The entire community is pitching in to make this Aug. 15, 2026, a day to remember. The many organizations that fuel our borough will be there to share in the merriment.”
The article originally appeared in the August 13 – 19, 2026 print edition of The Two River Times.
