SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM DISNEY STARRING DAISY RIDLEY. The exhilarating true
story of Trudy Ederle the first woman to swim the English Channel and inspire a wave of
confidence and emancipation for women in sports (Parade). By age twenty at the height of the
Jazz Age Trudy Ederle was the most accomplished swimmer in the world. She'd won Olympic gold
and set a host of world records. But the greatest challenge remained: the English Channel. Only
a few swimmers none of them women had ever made the treacherous twenty-one mile crossing.
Trudy's failed first attempt seemed to confirm what many naysayers believed: No woman could
possibly accomplish such a thing. In 1926 Ederle proved them wrong. As her German immigrant
parents cheered her and her sister and fellow swimmer Meg helped fashion both her scandalous
two-piece swimsuit and leak-proof goggles Trudy was determined to succeed. England or drown is
my motto she said plunging into the frigid Channel for her second attempt at the crossing.
Fourteen hours later two hours faster than any man and after weathering a gale and waves that
approached six-feet she stepped onto Kingsdowne Beach as the most famous woman in the world.
Based on years of archival research that unearthed Ederle's memory from obscurity Young Woman
and the Sea brings to life the real Trudy Ederle the challenges that came with her fame and
the historic mark her achievement made for all women athletes who followed.