Endurance swimmer Ross Edgley has done it again. The 39-year-old Brit completed a 1,000-mile swim around the entire Icelandic coastline on Monday, finishing at Reykjavik’s Nauthólsvík Beach after an odyssey that began on 17 May and lasted almost four months. More than a feat of human stamina, the expedition doubled as an environmental mission
Ross Edgley, the endurance athlete famed for becoming the first man to swim around Great Britain in 2018, has added another extraordinary achievement to his CV: he is now the first person to swim the full coastline of Iceland.
Edgley set off on 17 May and arrived back in Reykjavik on Monday, 8 September, completing roughly 1,000 miles of open-water swimming over the course of almost four months. The Gym King athlete described the project as “the toughest and most ambitious challenge I have attempted yet,” saying Iceland offered “insane experiences I will never forget.”
The physical demands were severe. Edgley and his team battled a range of harsh conditions — choppy seas, water temperatures that dropped as low as three degrees Celsius and encounters with marine life, including killer whales. Between swims he rested, refuelled and recovered aboard a 68-foot SKIRR Adventures expedition yacht, while a shore team of BMW iX electric vehicles handled logistics along the coast.
Beyond the headline-grabbing endurance element, the expedition had a clear scientific aim. Edgley worked with researchers to collect environmental DNA (e-DNA) samples at multiple points around the Icelandic coast as part of the EU-backed Bioprotect project. Organisers say the samples will help scientists map biodiversity, track pollutants like microplastics and better understand how Iceland’s coastal waters are changing in the face of a warming North Atlantic.
“We wanted to help scientists understand how these waters are changing; to find out how widespread pollutants like micro-plastics are and to conduct the first ever e-DNA study around the entire coast for the EU project, Bioprotect,” Edgley said. “Swimming day in and day out gave us a completely unique perspective on the ocean, and it was a privilege to support real-time research that could aid in future conservation efforts.”
The swim has drawn attention from high-profile friends and fans. Actor Chris Hemsworth — who congratulated Edgley publicly — praised the endurance swimmer’s combination of grit and imagination, saying: “He’s what happens when tough and crazy collide. This wasn’t just a swim, it was an epic saga that now takes its rightful place in Icelandic folklore.”
Camera crews followed the journey and Channel 4 will produce a documentary that promises behind-the-scenes access to the physical and psychological rigours Edgley endured. The filmmakers are expected to highlight both the human story of endurance and the environmental findings from the e-DNA work.
Edgley’s Iceland swim follows his high-profile 2018 circumnavigation of Britain, which also blended extreme sport with scientific and media projects. This latest crossing reinforces his reputation for combining headline endurance stunts with research-driven objectives, and positions the Iceland expedition as both an athletic milestone and a contribution to coastal science.
As scientists analyse the samples and the documentary readies for broadcast, Edgley’s completed swim leaves one clear impression: for him, pushing physical limits and amplifying environmental questions have become inseparable parts of the same mission.
