He swam across English Channel in 1994 when he was just 13 years old. That very same calendar year, he swam across 6 channels to break Mihir Sen’s record of swimming across 5 channels in a calendar year. Kutral’s name was included in Guinness Book of World Records for this feat. Kutral went on to win Arjuna Award in 1996. A lesson on Kutraleeswaran in Tamil State Board text book India.
Early life
Kutral was born in Erode, Tamil Nadu. He was born to Ramesh, an advocate at Madras High Court and his wife Sivakami, a home maker. His family moved to Chennai when he was just 1 month old. Kutral did his schooling in DAV, Gopalapuram, Chennai, holds an engineering degree from College of Engineering, Guindy at Chennai, masters from University of Texas at Dallas, and pursuing MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Career
He began his swimming at the age of 7. His first attempt at the district level swimming contest. It is called the “Ribbon Meet”. The reason it is called a ribbon meet is because the top 6 out of the 8 district level finalists get a ribbon. In that contest he got sixth position and a ribbon. He took part in many district & state-level contests. At the age of 10, he took part in 5 km swimming competition in the sea. Though youngest participant, he managed to get fourth place and this event turned to be stepping stone in his swimming career in 1991.
1994 - English Channel swim
In 1994, his next swimming expedition was to surpass Mihir Sen's record of completing five channels in a calendar year and unbroken for over 30 years.
He first swam across the Palk Strait, which lies between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka by end of April 1994. After completing Palk, with help of Tamil Nadu state government, he went on to cross the English Channel on 15 August 1994.
He swam across Rottnest Channel in Australia, Straits of Messina at Italy, and Zannone Circeo at Italy. Finally, he crossed the Ten Degree Channel on December 30, at the end of calendar year.
Thus he swam across the six channels, all in a year 1994 and included in Guinness Book of World Records for this feat.
1995–1998
After setting the record, He started taking part in competitions all over the world. Between 1995 and 1998, he was the only participant from Asia of the 25 swimmers selected across the world for the World Series in Swimming. He represented India in over 6 competitions around the Globe and won medals for India, which includes the 1st prize in Switzerland. He was awarded Arjuna Award by the Indian Government for bringing laurels to the country and for the Guinness Record in 1996.
