After years of depression, injury and self-doubt, Cape Town’ s Waris Mills found freedom, healing and history in a 45km swim around Hong Kong Island.
After years of depression, injury and self-doubt, Cape Town’ s Waris Mills found freedom, healing and history in a 45km swim around Hong Kong Island.
Late last year, Cape Town swimmer Waris Mills made history by setting a new record in the HK360 open water 45km circumnavigation of Hong Kong Island.
She completed the swim in 10hr 35min 58sec, seven minutes quicker than ex-Olympic swimmer Alex Fong’ s old mark and more than two hours ahead of the women’ s record. But if the truth be told, the 23-year-old has actually been swimming against the tide of life for some time now.
Born in Belgium, South Africa is the sixth country she’ s called home.
Aged around 16 and living in Hong Kong she went to boarding school in England and it was there that her life unexpectedly turned turtle.
“ I changed swimming coach and suddenly developed really bad depression as well as an eating disorder, my whole environment turned bad and I couldn’ t perform, my swimming community fell apart, and there was nothing to keep me afloat,” she reflects.
“ My mental and physical state went downhill, I was constantly cold, my hair was falling out, I got so skinny … went through a really dark place and felt so guilty about just not being able to perform!”
On top of that, her parents separated while she was at school and on her return to Hong Kong she fractured her hip – due to doing too much training on the running front and the eating disorder brought on by depression.
The Covid pandemic hit in 2020 and Mills came home to her mom, Iwona, in Cape Town to be home-schooled for her final year. Towards the end of 2024 she visited her dad Peter in Hong Kong.
“ I joined an open water group there, met a guy called Brett Kruse and we did training swims of 5km and 3km … and he said I’ d be so good at the Hong Kong 360 but I could never swim that far … to be honest I’ m absolutely petrified of the ocean … I’ ve always been scared of deep water, even in dams and think something’ s going to eat me.
“ But my dad agreed that the HK 360 would be a good idea!”
Describing herself as a free spirit, Mills has participated in South African championships in no fewer than five sports, but the idea of HK360 was a“ full circle event” for her.
She spent six weeks in Hong Kong training for the event with her best friend, American Madison Feldman, who was to paddle the entire way with her. There was also some unexpected help from a South African“ angel” she chanced upon in Hong Kong.
“ Her name is Nanette Olivier and when she heard I was from SA she gave me a free massage – she also came to the start to support me and was at the finish with a South African flag from the SA embassy.”
Her epic HK360 swim started at 2am and she felt the cold really badly, and after three‘ feeds’ switched from her normal electrolyte mixture to warm tea.
After four hours in the dark, daybreak proved to be an emotional turning point.
“ This big orange ball of sun emerged above the water and I could finally see my surroundings – one of my best moments ever. I was singing“ Circle of Life” to myself and I felt like a little performing dolphin.”
With 6km to go, Kruse, the original inspiration behind her swim, joined her, while Feldman was singing songs of inspiration, but Mills was in a maelstrom of pain.
“ I was so sore – I just told myself: Swim for Madison, swim for my dad, swim for my mom, my brother … all these people, swim for people who don’ t know how to swim, swim for the little girl you used to be!”
As she finally crossed the finish line there were tears of joy and relief, but she only learnt later that she’ d broken the record.
“ I felt so much love for everyone and myself … I’ ve never felt so free.”
After the celebrations, she and Feldman went for a nap that turned out to be a 15-hour slumber marathon.
Now back in Cape Town, the magnitude of her marathon effort has finally sunk in.
“ I’ ve gained new strength for the year and have been asked to do a few talks at schools etc, I still want to try and make the Olympics in 2028 at kayak slalom and also make the SA team for the World Lifesaving Championships in Gqeberha this year.”
But the self-effacing default mode kicks in quickly.
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“ I don’ t want to be better than anyone else, I just want to learn even more about life and myself and facing fears and putting my head down!”
She kept her head down for more than 10 hours in Hong Kong, but going forward she can only hold her head high. www. modernathlete. co. za 19