Stringer / Reuters
Penny Palfrey, an Australian-British swimmer starts her attempt to swim to Florida from Havana on Friday.
By NBC News and Reuters
Strong currents early on Sunday defeated marathon swimmer Penny Palfrey in her attempt to complete a record-breaking 103-mile swim from Cuba to the United States without a shark cage.
Palfrey, a 49-year-old grandmother, was plucked from the waters of the Florida Straits at about midnight after setting out from Havana on Friday and swimming for more than 40 hours, her team told NBC News.
In a statement, her team said a strong southeast current that made it impossible for her to continue her swim and that she was on an escort boat being taken care off by her support crew.
Palfrey had already made it well past the halfway point across the dangerous body of water that separates communist Cuba from the United States.
Palfrey, who was born in Britain but lives in Australia, had initially hoped to complete the crossing and arrive somewhere in southern Florida within 40 to 50 hours.
Her swim followed two unsuccessful attempts last year by American marathoner Diana Nyad, now 62, to cross the Florida Straits, which are known for tricky currents and unpredictable weather.
The swim was completed successfully by Australian swimmer Susan Maroney in May 1997, but unlike Nyad and Palfrey she used a shark cage.?
Reuters contributed to this report.
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