Long distance swimmer and environmental activist can now add the title ‘World Record Holder’ to his repertoire, after he arrived in Xlendi in Gozo on Wednesday night, bringing to an end a mammoth non-stop 125.6-kilometre journey.

Agius set out to break the world record for the longest continuous, unassisted, current-neutral swim along a single-segment natural route in an ocean, sea or bay, which was set at 124.4km on Monday evening from the island of Linosa.

He arrived in Xlendi at around 10pm on Thursday night after a gruelling non-stop 52 hour or so swim which totalled a record-breaking 125.6 kilometres.

Agius arrived in Gozo to a cacophony of horns and applause from boats which were following him into shore and from the crowd which had gathered to greet him.

Staggering ashore unassisted onto a chair waiting for him, Agius was soon covered up with towels and a survival blanket, before falling into the arms of his girlfriend Lara, who had proposed to him right before he departed from Linosa on Monday.

The feat is an extraordinary one for Agius, a former Olympian, who last year broke the record for the shortest time to swim between Sicily and Malta, with a time of 28 hours, seven minutes, and 27 seconds.

The world record-setting swim was part of a campaign being run by the Wave of Change, an environmental activist group founded by Agius himself, which aims to raise awareness on the damage plastic pollution is doing to our oceans.

“If Neil can swim for two nights and two days, no stopping, no getting out of the water WE CAN ALL pick up six pieces of plastic and do a few reps of exercise,” his team said in the buildup to the swim.

This can be done by:

• Picking up six pieces of plastic;
• Posting a video of yourself on social media doing six repetitions of your favourite exercise with the pieces of plastic in the video;
• Using #doublethewave and tag Wave Of Change Malta;
• Taggin and nominating six people.