Open Water

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...

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 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...

The Saint Lucia Channel Swim Event in 2020 will include three open-water attempts next month in a scaled back event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Three crossings are scheduled for the Saint Lucia Channel, which separates the island from Martinique 21 miles (33 kilometers) to the north. The announcem...

Practical Training Book is a Must-have for Time-Crunched Triathletes & Open-Water Swimmers Expert coaches and authors Conrad Goeringer (The Working Triathlete), and Rob Sleamaker ( SERIOUS Training for Endurance Athletes) have announced the publication of their new book, Triathlon Freestyle Simplifi...

Abby Bergman last week completed a rare crossing of Santa Monica bay, a 27-mile swim from Point Dume in Malibu to Rocky Point in Palos Verdes. Bergman made the swim in 16 hours, 25 minutes and 53 seconds through rough seas that greeted her in the 62-degree waters off Malibu. Headwinds at the start r...

Vera Rivard, a 16-year-old U.S. swimmer, completed a solo swim of the English Channel on Sept. 1. The Springfield, New Hampshire, and Derby, Vermont, resident, finished the swim in 14 hours, 10 minutes, becoming the youngest to complete the crossing in years. According to Channel Swimming Associatio...

Can Women Beat Men in Marathon Swimming? By Daniela Navarrete, Swimming World College Intern. Swimmers have biological differences that affect their performance according to their sex. Women have lower hemoglobin levels, oxygen supply, and do not develop as much muscular power. Therefore, in sprint ...

Barry Watson, who held the record for the fastest English Channel crossing from 1964 to 1977, died this week at age 81. A native of Crossflatts, West Yorkshire, Watson swam the channel in 1964 at age 26. His time of nine hours, 35 minutes to cover the 21 miles from England to France held for nearly ...

Haley Anderson was all set to represent the United States in her third Olympic Games this summer in the 10K open water swim. Anderson had already qualified to swim the 10K in Tokyo by virtue of her silver medal in the event at the 2019 World Championships, which served as the first round of qualific...

The Reasons Why Five Lakes Became New HOMES for Swimmers By Gigi Picard Swimming World College Intern This summer was quite literally a dry spell for swimmers all over the world. A majority of swimmers in the United States lost access to school, club, community pools – and even local gyms dried up. ...

Jon Ornée and his “Epic Swim 2020” team have been dreaming about the chance to accomplish a truly rare feat in open water swimming. For the second time in history, a recorded swim has crossed Lake Michigan. Nearly 22 years after the first swimmer crossed Lake Michigan, Epic Swim 2020, a six-man rela...