
5. B6 Neil Gilson
From An Open Water Swimmer's Podcast by William Ellis
February 22, 2026 · 27 min · Season 5 · Episode 6
About this episode
William Ellis interviews Neil Gilson about his record-setting swim and ongoing charity efforts.
(Subscribers Only. Free to play at end of Season 5). I chatted to Neil a few years ago after he had completed his World Record Lake Geneva swim, a swim he completed in 22 hours and 9 minutes. Staggeringly fast for a 70km lake swim… this was also his second attempt, having swam himself unconscious the previous year due to the unpredictable temperatures one can face in the lake. Since then he has gone on to try and complete the ten largest lakes in Switzerland, raising money for the children’s charity PANDAS, a task he is currently in the middle of having started last summer. And in fact if all goes to plan, he will finish his final lake - returning again to Lake Geneva (or Lac Leman, as it is more commonly known in Europe) in late summer this year. Bonkers stuff… Neil Gilson everyone.
People in this episode
Host: William Ellis
Guest: Neil Gilson
Topics covered
- world record swim
- lake swimming
- charity
- endurance sports
- swimming challenges
Keywords
- Lake Geneva
- world record
- swimming
- PANDAS
- charity swim
- endurance
- Switzerland
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: PANDAS
Places: Lake Geneva, Switzerland, Lac Leman
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