SAN FRANCISCO, California, May 22. LAST Sunday, Craig Dietz swam the treacherous 1.5 miles from Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay to the mainland, placing 689th out of 817 competitors.

Dietz is becoming a notable name in the open water swimming community, traversing some of the toughest waterways without arms or legs. Born limbless in Pennsylvania in 1974, Dietz has become an inspir

SANTA CLARITA, California, May 19. ANDREW Gemmell (Wilmington, Del.) and Haley Anderson (Granite Bay, Calif.) won the 5-kilometer national titles on Sunday to conclude the USA Swimming Open Water National Championships at Lower Castaic Lake.

With their victories, Gemmell and Anderson qualified for July's FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. They will join Christine Jennings (

CASTAIC, California, May 17. ALEX Meyer appeared to bide his time through 9900 meters of swimming in the men's 10K race at the USA Swimming open water nationals, then produced an explosive kick to win his second 10K title and place himself on the world championship roster.

Sean Ryan will line up in the world championship 10K in July with Meyer, hitting the finish pad in second place a

CASTAIC, California, May 17. CHRISTINE Jennings won what will be regarded as one of the closest 10K races in USA Swimming history, earning the first spot on the American world championship swimming roster this morning against some marathon swimming heavyweights.

Jennings, who turned 26 on May 7, lurked inside the lead pack for the two-hour-plus swim, using a strong kick to pull away from a

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

MISSION VIEJO, California, May 13. HUNDREDS of ambitious teenagers and young adults are descending upon Castaic Lake near Santa Clarita, California to participate in the 2013 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships and Fran Crippen Sunset Mile.

A few of them are odds-on favorites to swim in the lead pack, a handful of others

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

VALENCIA, California, May 11. USA Swimming will have its largest annual open water swimming extravaganza next week in Castaic Lake in Southern California.

With scenic rolling hills surrounding the venue, Castaic Lake presents a gorgeous amphitheater where all eyes will be on the athletes.

Starting on May 15th, Canyons Aquatics and the Fra

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, May 11. WHEN a national championship event occurs, the athletes are in the spotlight.

With the swimmers at the center of the championship universe, coaches, parents, volunteers, and officials also play key roles in making sure everything goes according to plan so athletic dreams may be realized in a well-dresse

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, May 9. PAUL Lundgren is at it again.

The former California professional triathlete-turned-marathon swimmer is going to attempt to become the first person to swim across the Sea of Cortez from San Carlos to Punta Chivato. It is a daunting task across 76 miles of salty rough water swimming.

Lundgren plans to b

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida, May 7. THIS week in Florida, Clifford Douglas Cliff Lumsdon Jr. will be entered into the International Swimming Hall of Fame for his illustrious career as a cold water specialists and professional marathon swimmer.

The five-time world champion between 1949 and 1954 was famous for his ability to swim in cold water, o

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, May 7. IT is a common understanding among the media and triathlon community that open water swimming is the most dangerous leg of their sport. This belief is due to the fact that nearly 100% of the fatalities during triathlon competitions occur during the swim leg.

While this fact is true and the number of fata

WUHAN, China, April 29. ONE of the world's top 100 open water swims is offering excellent prize money this summer.

A competition in one of the world's mightiest rivers awaits an international field at the 2013 International Challenge of Swimming Across the Yangtze River. The 1.8 km race on July 16th in Wuhan, China is organized by the Wuhan Swim Association.

The race is held u

By Steven Munatones, Swimming World Open Water Correspondent

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, April 22. AS we look into our crystal ball and make 10 predictions for the rest of the open water swimming season in 2013, we see the following:

1. There will be tremendously competitive and exciting races at the 2013 World Swimming Championships in Barcelona, Spain. The American women will

By Ashley Twichell, Open Water Source

MISSION VIEJO, California, April 17. ELITE open water swimmers are accustomed to putting in hours of training day in and day out, often swimming more miles per week than most people would dream of running. Two workouts a day of at least 7,000 meters, combined with dryland training, is usually considered the minimum to build the stamina, strength

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

COZUMEL, Mexico, April 15. DANIEL Fogg took the mantle back to Great Britain in Cozumel when he won a tremendous battle in Mexico at yesterday's stage on the FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup marathon swimming circuit.

The Mexican stage on the pro circuit on the stunning island of Cozumel lived up to its billing. The race gave those

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

COZUMEL, Mexico, April 15. MARTINA Grimaldi won a tremendous battle in an sea of strong currents in Cozumel on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico at yesterday's stage on the FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup marathon swimming circuit.

The Mexican stop on the absolutely stunning island of Cozumel lived up to its billing. The race gave tho

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania. April 15. I love coming to work every day, but I wouldn't call it work. My life has been enriched from being here, I am blessed, says coach Richard Shoulberg of the Germantown Academy.

Alicia Aemsigger of Princeton University warmly describes Coach Shoulberg, He cares about us as swimmers, but he cares more a

EAST LANSING, Michigan, April 9. MAKE sure to set your DVRs to record a fabulous swimming-related documentary scheduled to air on the Big Ten Network this Thursday.

Swimming Towards a Cure, an MSUToday-produced documentary, is about six women from Michigan who swam the English Channel as a fundraiser for ALS research. The documentary is set to air at 10 p.m. on April 11 on the Big Ten N

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, April 9. MARCH Madness came to an end with the Final Four taking place in Atlanta this weekend. The collegiate experience and nature of college students at NCAA Championships is always exciting and compellingly competitive.

The NCAA oversees dozens of sports and has held an NCAA Men's Swimming Championships

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

COZUMEL, Mexico, April 8. IN the most stunningly gorgeous stop on the professional marathon swimming circuit, dozens of the fastest open water swimmers in the world are heading their way to Cozumel, Mexico this week.

Cozumel is a stunningly gorgeous island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The pro

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, April 6. AS boring as it sounds, it's just going towards paying the bills. I love swimming and it's just amazing that I can earn a living from it, said two-time Olympian Melissa Gorman after receiving $20,000 for winning the 2012-2013 State New Zealand Ocean Series.

Melissa Gorman earned the biggest cash prize

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, April 6. BEFORE the final stage and ultimate showdown at the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series at the State King of the Bays race, Ky Hurst had said he had a special motivation. The [$20,000] prize money will into a bank account that I'll be opening for my four-month old son, said the 2-time Olympian.

His son can now r

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, April 5. THE richest cash prize in the history of New Zealand swimming is on the line this weekend at the 2.8 km State King of the Bays event.

The final round of the 6-race State New Zealand Ocean Swim Series goes from Milford Beach to Takapuna Beach. The best open water swimming talent from both sides of the Tasman ha

By Steven Munatones, Open Water Source

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, April 3. ONE of the most remarkable women in the aquatics world lost her battle against breast cancer in Cape Town at the age of 60. Karen Muir, the child prodigy from South Africa who set 15 world records during her career, eventually became a physician and moved to Canada.

But starting at the age of 12, she bl

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

ROBERVAL, Canada, April 2. MOHAMED Marouf is a former professional marathon swimmer who was born in Cairo, Egypt. Through this swimming skills, he was able to compete in the pro circuit for several years, competing in Europe, Canada and Argentina.

He now finds himself building a great pool and open water swimming program in La Salle, Quebec,

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

TAMPA BAY, Florida, April 1. RON Collins not only talks the talk, he walks the walk.

Collins is a waterman through and through. He is always around the ocean, relentlessly energetic as an athlete, race director, open water swimming pod coordinator, promoter and enthusiasm extraordinaire. He founded the 24 Mile Tampa Bay Marathon Swim 16 years

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

MONTREAL, Canada, March 27. MOHAMED Marouf and the Le Club de natation Calac hosted an international conference on open water swimming at its annual distance swimming competition in Montreal, Canada.

Dr. Abou Elella Ade El Fattah of Egypt, Alain Lefebvre of Canada, Gilles Potvin of Canada, and Steven Munatones, as well as host and former prof

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, March 26. THERE are many endurance sports and adventure endeavors in the world. Men and women push themselves in all sorts of ways, conditions and distances from triathlons to ultra-marathon runs, mountaineering to cycling, cross-country skiing to Polar expeditions.

But we believe open water swimming is unique am

MISSION VIEJO, California, March 19. DAN O'Connor has always enjoyed long distance swimming in the pool. The University of North Carolina swimmer has recently added open water swimming to his wheelhouse.

Ashley Twichell is an upstate New Yorker like O'Connor who went to college in the state of North Carolina, and interviews him on his emerging interest in open water swimming.

By Ashley Twichell and Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

MISSION VIEJO, California, March 18. FOR a good number of triathletes, the swim leg is the weakest and lowest priority of their race. There are various reasons why, but as teams like Tower 26 have demonstrated, it is well worth a triathlete's time to spend more time training in the water.

Since the swim portion of a t

SOFIA, Bulgaria, March 13. BULGARIA has created a caretaker government to help run the country until the official May elections, and open water swimming star Petar Stoychev has been named as the country's sports minister.

The announcement was made on the Bulgarian news website novinite.com amidst a flood of news regarding appointments in the caretaker government that are taking place

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, March 11. SPATIAL awareness is a critical talent that can be developed by an open water swimmer and triathlete. If an athlete is not gifted with innate spatial awareness, then they must work on it to improve.

For an open water swimmer and triathlete, what is spatial awareness? Spatial awareness is the ability of

By Steve Munatones, Open Water Source

EILAT, Israel, March 8. IN order to qualify to compete as a swimmer at the 2013 FINA World Swimming Championships in Barcelona, Spain this coming July, each country has their own specific qualification standards for the 5 km solo, 10 km solo, 25 km solo and 5 km Team Pursuit races.

For the traditionally powerful German team, the qualification

By Ashley Twichell, Open Water Source

MISSION VIEJO, California, March 8. ARE you a coach attempting to get your younger athletes interested in open water swimming?

If so, it may be a difficult task if not approached in the right way. The idea of open water swimming, particularly to younger children, may be intimidating, especially on shorelines with waves.

Here are some he

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, March 4. THE city of Eilat (ISR) welcomed 65 participants (33 men and 32 women) from 16 countries on March 1 for the third leg of the FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup 2013.

Christian Reichert (GRE), who finished second of the 2012 World Cup series, took out the men's race in 1h53m29s50. Reichert beat compatriot and 2012 Olympic silver medallist over the di

By Ashley Twichell of Open Water Source

MISSION VIEJO, California, March 4. DO you ever become bored while swimming an open water workout? Do you find yourself losing focus, with a wandering mind? Do you feel like you have been swimming for forty minutes, only to look at your watch and realize its been ten minutes?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you're not a

SANTA BARBARA, California, March 1. 2008 BEIJING Olympian Mark Warkentin grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif. Frequently gazing over the California Channel islands, he was never far away from the beach and beautiful shoreline of Santa Barbara that has attracted the celebrity crowd and multitudes of crowds from nearby Los Angeles for decades.

After a long career in the pool that culminated in s

By Ashley Twichell of Open Water Source

MISSION VIEJO, California, February 26. FOR professional open water swimmers competing at the highest level, the Olympic distance of 10 kilometers is their focus. However, as swimmers need to develop different skills and mindsets to reach their potential in the 10K, competing in 5K and 25K races may also be added into the mix. Both these dist

By Steven Munatones of Open Water Source

AKAROA, New Zealand, February 25. STROKE for stroke, head to head, went Kane Radford, Phillip Ryan and Josh Richardson at today's State Le Grande Swim, the fourth round of the State New Zealand Ocean Swim Series.

Radford won by one second over Auckland's Phillip Ryan with Queensland's Josh Richardson third, 13 seconds back.

By Steven Munatones of Open Water Source

AKAROA, New Zealand, February 25. SHE nearly did it in last year's RCP Tiburon Mile in San Francisco Bay - pulling off a rare win against professional elite men. And, in today's State Le Grande Swim in Akaroa, New Zealand, Melissa Gorman battled against the best in a neck-and-neck battle.

While Kane Radford won a close race over

CORK, Ireland, February 25. FROM Florida to California, from the United Nations to the Queen Mary, the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame and World Open Water Swimming Association has held its ceremonies in various locations from the West Coast to the East Coast in the U.S.

For the first time in its history since 1961, the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame will take it

By Steven Munatones of Open Water Source

HUNTINGTON BEACH, California, February 23. GARY Hall, Jr. had some mighty big moccasins to fill. His father Gary Hall, Sr. was one of the all-time great American swimmers.

But Junior did it his own way and did it extraordinarily well and colorfully.

Following the footsteps of his father who was inducted in 1981, Gary Hall, Jr. joins th

By Ashley Twichell of Open Water Source

MISSION VIEJO, California, February 21. THE room fell silent as Craig Dietz, a man born with no arms or legs, maneuvered himself from his wheelchair onto a table four feet high, with no help, while giving a speech in South Africa. One thing is quickly apparently to all those present: he truly embodies his own personal life mantra, which is def