David Meca completes 22-hour nonstop swim race

Spanish long-distance swimmer David Meca became the first person to swim from the Spanish mainland to the island of Ibiza, completing a 22-hour nonstop journey in which he overcame darkness, cold and jelly fish stings.

Meca, 31, wearing a special suit used to endure low water temperatures, had to be dragged out of the water by a Red Cross medical team when he arrived in San Antonio de Ibiza on Thursday with symptoms of hypothermia and a shoulder injury. He was taken to a hospital for checks.

The 110-kilometer (64-mile) crossing began from the eastern coastal city of Javea.

The crossing is the longest yet for Meca, who has also crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and the English Channel and swum from the prison island of Alcatraz to San Francisco harbor.

Meca won the men's 25-kilometer open water race at the World Swimming Championships in Montreal last summer, the AP reports.

V.Y.