Sweden to Poland: What a 160-Kilometre Baltic Swim Teaches About Persistence

There are several ways to travel from Sweden to Poland. You can fly. You can take a ferry. Or, if you are Polish ultra-swimmer Bartłomiej Kubkowski, you can simply enter the Baltic Sea and keep swimming for more than two days.

 

In August 2026, Kubkowski became the first person to complete a non-stop swim across the Baltic Sea from Sweden to Poland, covering more than 160 kilometres from Kåseberga in Sweden to Dziwnów in Poland. The journey took approximately 55 hours and 10 minutes. During the crossing he did not sleep or touch the accompanying support boat, which supplied food, drinks and essential assistance from a distance. 

 

The achievement becomes even more remarkable when you know that this was his fifth attempt. In 2025, after swimming 159 kilometres for more than 53 hours, he had to stop just 11 kilometres from the Polish coast. Most people would interpret this as a perfectly reasonable reason to purchase a ferry ticket. Kubkowski interpreted it as unfinished business. 

 

His Ultra Baltic Swim project was also about considerably more than records. Kubkowski dedicated the challenge to the Cancer Fighters Foundation, supporting children undergoing cancer treatment. 

 

For Aurixon, the story has a particularly fitting symbolism. Sweden and Poland are separated by a sea, different languages and different business cultures. Yet the distance is not impossible to cross. Usually, fortunately, it requires cultural understanding rather than 55 hours of freestyle.

 

Kubkowski demonstrated something equally valuable in sport and international business: preparation, persistence and the willingness to try again when the first plan does not reach the opposite shore.