Bhakti Sharma

Bhakti Sharma is an Indian open-water swimmer associated with Udaipur, Rajasthan. Her mother, Leena Sharma, began teaching her to swim when she was two and a half. After school-level competition, she moved toward longer swims, with her family helping research routes, contact organisations and assemble the resources each challenge required.

At sixteen she completed the English Channel in 13 hours 55 minutes. The Channel Swimming Association records the successful 2006 England-to-France solo; Dover’s individual entry dates it to 6 July and names Andy King aboard Sea King. In a later interview, Sharma recalled the currents becoming especially demanding after about ten hours and the encouragement of her parents on the support boat.

She returned to the Channel in a relay in 2008 with her mother and Priyanka Gehlot. That shared crossing forms part of her career story, while her individual solo result remains separately identified. Her wider swimming journey also took her into polar water, including an Antarctic swim in 2015.

The Indian government recognised her with the 2011 Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award for Water Adventure, presented on 29 August 2012. She has also discussed the mental demands of endurance swimming in interviews and in a recorded 2019 TED talk about resilience.