Chad Hundeby

Chad Hundeby was an American open water swimmer whose competitive career linked international championship racing with fast channel crossings. He learned to swim at Blue Buoy Swim School in Tustin, California, attended Woodbridge High School and swam at Southern Methodist University. The International Swimming Hall of Fame describes his move towards open water after he did not make the 1988 Olympic team.

At the 1991 World Championships in Perth, Hundeby won the men's 25-kilometre race. World Aquatics also lists him with mixed-team gold at the same championships. He later established a Catalina Channel record in 1993 and was recognised as the United States' open water swimmer of the year in 1991, 1993 and 1994.

On 27 September 1994 he completed the English Channel from England to France in 7 hours 17 minutes. His coach Penny Lee Dean had held the earlier overall mark. The published CSA result and the CS&PF historical record agree on Hundeby's time; the latter names Reg Brickell Jr, Helen Ann Marie and observer R. Scott. The federation's record progression shows Christof Wandratsch taking the overall mark in 2005, whereas the Hall of Fame narrative gives a conflicting 21-year duration.

Hundeby became an ISHOF Honor Open Water Swimmer in 2012. The organisation's obituary records his death on 12 June 2021, aged fifty, and remembers his quiet manner alongside his competitive achievements.