Aussie ends swim post jellyfish sting

Chloe McCardel has had to end her attempt to swim from Cuba to Florida

By Nicole Hamer |

13:02 13 June 2013

An Australian whose aim was to swim from Cuba to Florida without having a shark cage has had to end her attempt to do so.

Chloe McCardel had to end her epic swim after suffering from a “debilitating jellyfish sting". A statement from her team confirmed this news.

If the endurance swimmer would have completed the swim she would have become the first person to complete the route without a shark cage.

It is believed the 28-year-old open water swimmer was 11 hours into the swim across the Straits of Florida.

Fellow athlete Diana Nyad, of America, posted a tweet on social network site Twitter saying: “It's a tough night for Chloe McCardel, a superior swimmer and an exemplary spirit.”

Earlier this week Ms. McCardel commented that “it is the hardest swim in the world today”.

She added: “No one has been able to achieve this. It's possibly harder than winning the World Cup or getting a gold medal.”

There have been two other women who have made the same attempt as the Aussie in the last few years. This relates to Diana Nyad and Penny Palfrey.

In regards to other areas of the world, Ms. McCardel has previously done double crossings of the English Channel, as well as winning the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 2010.