A Roedean student has completed a solo English Channel crossing just days after receiving her A level results and has raised £6,361 for her chosen charity in the process.
Finya Lang, 18, from Hove, swam from England to France in the early hours of Monday (17 August), completing the approximately 34-kilometre crossing in 12 hours and eight minutes.
She is the second Roedean student to swim across the Channel – her friend Clara Burton-Dowsett also completed the extraordinary challenge last summer.
The swim had originally been planned for early September, but a suitable weather window meant Finya‘s attempt was brought forward at relatively short notice.
She set off from Dover at 2.16am and finally reached the French coast more than 12 hours later, having battled the Channel‘s notoriously choppy tides and conditions.
“I was very nervous coming into this swim as it is about a month before my official slot and a there was a strong spring tide instead of a nice neap,” said Finya.
Finya’s achievement’s is timely. It is exactly 100 years since the first solo English Channel crossing by a woman back in August 1926 when American swimmer Gertrude Ederle made the swim from England to France, completing the crossing in 14 hours and 31 minutes.
Finya’s success is the latest Roedean sea-swimming triumph. Back in 2022, a six-girl Roedean relay team successfully crossed to Cap Gris-Nez on the French coast.
For Finya, Monday’s achievement was her third English Channel crossing. In 2025 she completed two crossings as part of a Mencap Marvel relay team. The first took 14 hours and 33 minutes in challenging conditions, while the second was completed by the five-person team in just 11 hours and 13 minutes.
She has also tackled the 15km Bonifacio Strait between Corsica and Sardinia, describing the experience as a lesson in the importance of mental resilience, and swam the length of Lake Windermere on 24 July as part of her preparation.
Her mother Gabi travelled to Dover to see her daughter set off, while her father drove to France to meet Finya when she reached the other side.
Finya has been fundraising for Mencap throughout her swimming challenges and has now raised an impressive £6,361 for the charity.
But even a solo English Channel swim is not enough for Finya‘s. In October, she intends to take on the 20 Bridges Swim in New York, a 45.9km circumnavigation of Manhattan Island, before heading to California to attempt the 32km Catalina Channel crossing. This Channel is renowned for its great white shark population and the swim must be undertaken through the night. Swimmers use red lights rather than spotlights, as artificial light can attract sharks.
Said deputy head Dr Ross Barrand: “These achievements are simply remarkable for anyone, let alone someone as young as Finya. We are very happy that our sea swimming programme at Roedean has helped her find her passion and we know she will go on to achieve more great things!”
