In February of 2021, Jasmine Harrison, at just 21 years old, became the youngest woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Beating out the previous record holder, an American named Katie Spotz, the British athlete completed the journey in 70 days, 3 hours and 48 minutes, rowing herself into the history books of endurance athletes and setting a new world record. The 3,000-mile journey is not for the faint of heart, and indeed, there have been less than 1,000 attempts made to row solo across an ocean in the last century. Within that incredibly small number of attempts, only 200 of them have been women and only 18 have successfully crossed the Atlantic. Harrison weathered many difficulties during her journey, including several capsizes, the loss of her speaker, phone and iPad and injuries to her head, elbow and lower back. Harrison had very little rowing experience when she embarked, previously working as a swim instructor and volunteering in disaster relief.
“I hope that my achievement of completing the Atlantic Row helps to inspire people, both young and old, that almost anything is possible,” Harrison says. “You can be free to make your own decisions and create part of your own destiny.”
