KEY WEST, Fla., Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Sexagenarian endurance swimmer Diana Nyad Monday was more than one-third of the way through her attempted record swim from Cuba to Florida.
Nyad, 61, who successfully completed the longest open-water swim in history in 1979 when she stroked her way 102.5 miles from the Bahamas to Florida, was 46 miles through her planned 103-mile trek across the Florida Straits without a shark cage, CNN reported.
Nyad began the crossing Sunday night in Havana, and hopes to arrive at Key West, Fla., by Wednesday.
Updates provided by members of her support team on her Twitter account and Facebook page indicated the senior citizen swimmer was "going strong" 22.5 hours into her journey despite battling asthma, shoulder pain and a counter-current.
Nyad attempted the Straits of Florida crossing when she was 28 and failed, but told reporters Sunday she's determined to complete it this time.
"I'm almost 62 years old ... . I'm standing here at the prime of my life; I think this is the prime, when one reaches this age," she told reporters in Cuba. "You still have a body that's strong, but now you have a better mind."
"She will have her work cut out for her," Ron Collins, founder of the Tampa Bay Marathon Swim, told the St. Petersburg Times. "That is a long time to be in the water. There are a lot of things that can go wrong."
