Open Water

Editor’s Note: erroneous reports out of Puerto Rico said that Harry Hauck, considered by most to be the grandfather of water polo on the island, had passed away after a lengthy illness. Swimming World inadvertently published an obituary to this effect. In fact, Coach Hauck is alive and—even though h...

The World Open Water Swimming Association (WOWSA) on Tuesday announced its 2020 WOWSA Awards. The awards were bestowed in four categories: Man of the Year, Woman of the Year, Performance of the Year and Offering of the Year. In total, 59 nominees were presented from 27 countries. The winners were se...

National Girls & Women in Sports Day: The Greatness of Gertrude Ederle By Lianne McCluskey, Swimming World Intern. Gertrude Ederle showed the world what grit and tenacity can do: make swimming history. On August 6, 1926, 19-year-old Trudy became not only the first woman to complete the English Chann...

Marathon Swimming: Where Women Have Outperformed the Men Unlike competitive pool swimming, marathon swimming provides opportunities for women to outperform and beat the men in three key aspects of the sport: Solo speed records, endurance records and head-to-head races. As far as solo speed records a...

USMS continues its growth in open water swimming and triathlon Zone3 has become an official partner of U.S. Masters Swimming, the two organizations announced on Wednesday. Zone3 will be the title partner of an open water virtual event to be hosted this summer on Swim.com, and will provide benefits a...

How the Marathon Swimming Greats Have Been Immortalized Around the World By Ned Denison The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) enshrines the aquatic greats in its Fort Lauderdale Museum and its annual inductions and awards. Aquatic greats are further honored in hundreds of other discipline-...

English Channel Crosser's Open Water Message for 2021: 'Find Inspiration in it' By Kat Hall, Swimming World Contributor. During the past eight months, most of us have had our athletic events, whether competitive or recreational, cancelled. As courts, fields, rinks, and tracks have closed, then slowl...

Passages: A Tribute to Who Was Lost in the Swimming World in 2020: Part 2 (July-December) The world of swimming endured a number of notable passages in 2020, individuals who enriched the sport in the pool and on deck. In 2020, we lost some of the sports coaching pioneers around the globe. Many of th...

Lockdown is the word that now brings fear into any swimmer's heart. Virtually all pools, lakes, beaches, and even the local swimming holes were affected by the 2020 pandemic. Every place to swim except private home pools has been dramatically affected by COVID-19, and this has been a dismal year...

October 23, 2010 changed Dick Shoulberg's life forever. It was on that day that Fran Crippen tragically lost his life at age 26 during an open water race in hot water off the coast of Dubai. Now 81, Shoulberg had been the head coach of the swim team at Germantown Academy for over 40 years, leading k...

The organizers of the Tokyo Olympics have moved up the start times for the open water swimming event to account for possible high temperatures later in the day. The men’s and women’s 10-kilometer swims will begin at 6:30 a.m. local time, allowing an estimated competition time of around 9 a.m. The wo...

The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Petar Stoychev for his high-level achievement in marathon swimming with the 2020 Poseidon Award. The Award will be presented to Petar, on Saturday evening, during the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Cere...

The United States Olympic Committee on Wednesday announced three upgraded medals from the 2019 Pan American Games, including Taylor Abbott in the men’s 10-kilometer open water. Abbott had finished third to secure bronze in the race, his time 1:54.02.7. The gold from the race in Peru last summer rema...

The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Sid Cassidy, for his extensive contributions to the administration of open water swimming with the 2020 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award. The award will be presented to Sid, on Saturday evening, during the Internatio...

Roosevelt Lake Open Water Swim, A Narrative By Joe Zemaitis. 2020 has been a very unique year! With many other training options curtailed due to world events, but with continued pool access, I ended the summer with the best fitness I've had in years. My brother John and I usually do some internatio...

The International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF) will recognize Colin Hill, for his extensive contributions to the administration of open water swimming with the 2021 Irving Davids/Captain Roger W. Wheeler Memorial Award. The Award will be presented to Colin during a future International Marathon Swi...

Swimming Through Smoke: Michelle Rogalski's Journey To Alcatraz. By Michelle Rogalski. You could not see a thing. A small whiff of smoke was inhaled with every breath. Alcatraz only existed as a little black smudge on the horizon line, yet I was supposed to swim around the island in an hour. The fog...

The English Channel has been crossed by swimmers on record for more than a century. But most crossings happen between similar points, on in England and the other across the channel in France. Kirstie Beechey was determined to swim the channel from one of her favorite points to another, so she set ou...

Thursday’s Google Doodle honored Arati Saha, on what would’ve been the Indian Channel swimmer’s 80th birthday. Saha was a trailblazer in the pool, born in Kolkata in 1940. She learned to swim under the guidance of Indian Olympian Sachin Nag, winning medals in national competition against adults at a...

Catherine Breed completed a crossing of Monterey Bay this week in less than 13 hours, setting a record for the open-water course. Breed’s swim started Monday night at Twin Lakes State Beach in Santa Cruz. Through water temperatures in the 50s and schools of jellyfish, Breed arrived at San Carlos Bea...