Romanian librarian Avram Iancu, who managed to swim across the English Channel at his fourth attempt last year, is now getting ready for a new challenge: he wants to swim the Danube River in 60 days, without a neoprene suit.

The Romanian said that he wants to transpose into reality the adventure of the main character in The Danube Pilot, a novel by famous writer Jules Verne. However, Iancu will swim the Danube River’s 2,860 km, unlike the novel’s character who traveled down the river in a boat.

“This new challenge was born in the Petrosani City Library, where I work as a librarian. Reading the novel The Danube Pilot by famous Jules Verne, a fascinating journey in which the main character of the novel aims to travel by boat the whole course of the Danube exactly one hundred years before my birth, so I thought of bringing this novel to life, in a more spectacular and difficult way. This is a first in the world, as I will swim without neoprene suit,” Avram Iancu said, reports local Mediafax.

The Romanian already started preparing for this new challenge, which he hopes to start on June 20 this year. He will begin from the Black Forest in Germany and hopes to reach the Sulina Port in Romania on August 20.

Last summer, Avram Iancu swam the English Channel without a neoprene suit in 18 hours. It was his fourth attempt. Back in 2014, he wanted to become the first Romanian who swims the English Channel, but he didn’t finish the quest. He tried again in 2015, but the odds were once again against him.

Andrei Rosu became the first Romanian to swim the English Channel in June 2015, but his performance wasn't officially recognized by the Channel Swimming Association, which validates the successful cross-channel, because he used a neoprene suit.

Dan Canta, a Romanian living in Melbourne, Australia, officially became the first Romanian to swim across the English Channel in August 2015. He was only 16 at that time.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Sea Leopard Charter on Facebook)