The Swedish Torpedo (2024)

Born in Helsingborg, Sweden, in 1908, Sally Bauer took up competitive swimming as a teenager and soon became passionate about long-distance events. By the late 1930s, as depicted in The Swedish Torpedo, pursuing her athletic dreams places a heavy strain on her both financially—due to the constant difficulty in securing funding for her expensive swims—and personally. As a single mother, Bauer faces significant challenges and societal judgments that threaten her ambition to swim the English Channel, a daunting challenge that would keep her in cold and perilous waters for up to 15 hours. The encroaching war across Europe adds further complications and intensifies the urgency of her endeavor. To achieve her goal, she must confront her fears, temper her occasionally stubborn nature, and seek crucial support, including from the father of her young son—a married sports reporter whom she still loves.