Twenty-year-old Bulgarian Alexander Popov who studies in Great Britain swam the English Channel successfully. He stopped the clock at 13.58 hours. Meanwhile, Popov, who is not a professional swimmer, is raising money for charity. Nearly GBP 5,000 was raised through his initiative. The money will be given to a British organization helping homeless people. In 2007 another Bulgarian-the world-famous swimmer Petar Stoychev set a record in the English Channel. He stopped the clock at 6.57:50 hours and became the first man on earth who swam this distance in less than 7 hours.