SANTOS, Brazil. Professional marathon swimmers have a choice this coming Sunday: compete 10K off the Atlantic shore in Santos, Brazil in the opening leg of the FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup or race 57K in the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix between Santa Fe and Coronda in Argentina.
31 women and 58 men will race in the Santos World Cup including the top Germans (Angela Maurer, Nadine Reichert, Christian Reichert and Andreas Waschburger who were all ranked in the top 3 in the 2011 World Cup circuit. Others include four 10K medalists from the 2011 FINA World Championships: Italian Martina Grimaldi, Marianna Lymperta and Spyridon Gianniotis from Greece, and Russian Sergey Bolshakov.
2005 World 10K champion Chip Peterson and his American teammate Emily Brunemann who won 2 World Cup races last season are also among the competitors.
After these races on January 29th, the pro head off to their respective circuits:
Race 2: February 4th 10K in Viedma, Argentina
Race 3: April 1st 10K in Eilat, Israel
Race 4: April 21st 10K in Cancun, Mexico
Race 5: July 26th 10K 10K in Lac St-Jean, Canada
Race 6: August 11th 10K in Lac Megantic, Canada
Race 7: October 7th 10K in Hong Kong
Race 8: October 14th 10K in Shantou, China
FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix 2012 calendar:
Race 3: February 5th 88K in Hernandarias-Parana, Argentina
Race 4: June 17th 36K in Capri-Napoli, Italy
Race 5: July 28th 32K in Lac St-Jean, Canada
Race 6: August 4th 34K in Lac Magog, Canada
Race 7: August 5th 19K in Sabac, Serbia
Race 8: August 11th 33K in Ohrid Lake, Macedonia
Copyright © 2011 by Open Water Source