By Charlotte Wells on SwimSwam
Bryan Huffman, an ophthalmologist in Holland, Michigan, made history as the first man to swim across all five Great Lakes, completing the feat in late September when he emerged from the water on the shores of Lake Michigan.
Part athletic achievement and part fundraiser, Huffman’s crossing of the Great Lakes helped bring in donations to help support children in learning how to swim. He began partnering with the Holland Aquatic Center back in 2022 to raise money to offer children free or reduced-cost swim lessons, and he has since raised over $80,000.
The crossing of Lake Michigan was the final piece of a multi-year challenge for Huffman, who swam the first of the five lakes in 2024 when he crossed Lake Erie. He followed it up with Lake Superior in 2025, before swimming across Lake Ontario, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan in July, August and September of 2026, respectively.
Accompanied by a team of support boats, Huffman endured cold waters and mild hypothermia during his swim across Lake Michigan.
Huffman was a swimmer during his high school days before becoming a swim coach in college. He eventually got involved in triathlons, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he had not swam in about 25 years.
Huffman decided to start training again during COVID, and in October 2022 he swam across the English Channel.
He continued to take on feats of marathon swimming; in 2023, he completed the 20 Bridges Swim around Manhattan, and a year later he crossed both Lake Erie and the Catalina Channel in California.
Huffman’s crossing of the Catalina Channel made him the first person from Michigan to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming, which includes the English Channel and the 20 Bridges.
While Huffman was the first man to ever successfully swim across all five Great Lakes, three women previously accomplished the feat. Vicki Keith, a Canadian marathon swimmer, was the first to complete the challenge, crossing the five lakes over a 61-day period in 1988.
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