For 18 hours and 50 minutes, 13-year-old Ishaan S was in the sea, swimming through the Palk Strait, from Dhanushkodi to Thalai Mannar in Sri Lanka and back. For his mother, A. Sharmila, a Chennai-based techie, the 64-km swim is far more than a world record. It is a moment that makes her think of all the doors that once closed on her autistic son. Ishaan, who has autism and an intellectual disability and competes in the S14 category, began his historic swim at 5 pm on September 29 from Dhanushkodi. He reached Thalai Mannar at around 2 am on September 30, rested for about half an hour on a support boat, and began the return journey at 2.30 am. He reached Dhanushkodi at 11.50 am.
The World Book of World Records, London, has recognised Ishaan as the first and youngest special child in the world in this category to achieve the feat.
The attempt involved 26 people, including swimmers, observers, lifeguards and doctors, with two boats deployed. Sri Lankan and Indian naval teams closely followed the swimmers. Permission to cross the International Maritime Boundary Line was granted only for the record attempt.
But Ishaan’s journey to the sea began much earlier.
As a toddler, the family tried badminton, skating, yoga and table tennis. Swimming, however, brought out something different in him. His focus in the water was better.
Over the past two years, he trained consistently in Kovalam and undertook endurance swims – a 5-km Swimathon in Goa in 2025, followed by a 10-km swim in the Periyar River in Kochi. Before the Palk Strait attempt, he trained at Dhanushkodi for five days.
The family says the dream was not simply to win, but to show what was possible when a child is given an opportunity.
“We wanted to make him unique when everyone said it was not possible,” says Sharmila.
Ishaan already has eight gold and two silver medals from national and state-level competitions over the past two years.
Yet his mother’s proudest moment may have little to do with medals.
She remembers trying to find a school for her son and facing rejection from around 40 schools.
Vel’s Global School in Mogappair, where Ishaan now studies, encouraged him and even put up a poster celebrating him and his record.
“Given the opportunity, these children can really achieve,” Sharmila says.
Ishaan may not fully understand the magnitude of what he has accomplished.
“He just feels happy saying, ‘I’ve done a world record,'” his mother says.
But there is another question he often asks her: “Will friends come and clap for me? Will they accept me and take me in?”
For a boy who once struggled to find acceptance, perhaps the most powerful part of this journey is not how far he swam, but how far he has come.
Now training at the SDAT Government Swimming Pool in Shenoy Nagar, Ishaan’s next dream is bigger still: to compete internationally in the S14 category.
His mother wants to equip him for that journey.
And for Ishaan, the answer to his childhood question may already be beginning to emerge – one stroke at a time.
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