2020 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year Nominees
Courtesy of World Open Water Swimming Association, Huntington Beach, California.
WOWSA Awards
World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year
1. Century Swim To Malta by Neil Agius (Malta)
2. HK360Xtreme Challenge by Mayank Vaid (India)
3. Ice Kilometer by Alisa Fatum (Germany)
4. Lake Baikal Relay Eco-Crossing (Russia)
5. Lake George Swim by Caroline Block, Ph.D. (USA)
6. Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli by Arianna Bridi (Italy)
7. Monterey Bay Crossing by Catherine Breed (USA)
8. Peace Route Swim (Turkey)
9. Sea of Galilee Perimeter Swim (Israel)
10. Travessia do Leme ao Pontal by Mariana Chevalier (Brazil)
11. TBD
12. TBD or Carly Miller for her multiple swims this season after being struck down with COVID-19
1. Century Swim To Malta by Neil Agius (Malta)
2004 Olympian Neil Agius has increased his distance from 400 meters to 38 km around Gozo to 70 km around Malta and is now at 100 km when he swam from Sicily, Italy to his native country of Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. His 28 hour 7 minute not only broke the existing record held by fellow Maltese Olympian Nicky Farrugia who also swam from Sicily to Gozo in 1985 in 30 hours 17 minutes, but it has also immediately inspired him to go further. The 34-year-old departed from Sicily at 5:15 am and arrived at St Julian’s Water Polo & Aquatic Club in Malta the next day at 9:24 am, with the swim becoming a subject of a documentary called The Long Swim Home. For creating and succeeding in a charity swim as part of the Wave of Change movement which raises awareness about marine pollution and threats to marine habitats, for setting a new record from Sicily to Malta, and for dreaming of longer, tougher and more ambitious goals as a result of his Sicily-to-Malta crossing, the Century Swim To Malta by Neil Agius is a worthy nominee for the 2019 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.
2. HK360Xtreme Challenge by Mayank Vaid (India)
3. Ice Kilometer by Alisa Fatum (Germany)
At the 6th Ice Swimming Aqua Sphere German Open & IISA® World Cup, Alisa Fatum outdid herself – and faster than the entire rest of the field, including both men and women. In the early-season race, the 25-year-old German ice swimming speedster swam a 12 minute 49 second Ice Kilometer, even beating Olympian Rostislav Vítek (12:53), world champion Christof Wandratsch (13:22), American star Colin Bushweller (13:24), and Dutch icon Fergil Hesterman (13:37). In nearly breaking her own world record, she averaged a 1:16.9 per 100m without the benefit of a dive or flip turns in the 25-meter pool in Veitsbronn, Germany. For swimming only 4 tenths of a second slower than her existing Ice Kilometer World Record of 12:48:60, for swimming the 11th fastest Ice Kilometer in history including all males and females, and for elevating the expectations about the potential speed of elite female ice swimmers in the eyes of the global swimming community, the fast Ice Kilometer by Alisa Fatum is a worthy nominee for the 2019 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.
4. Lake Baikal Relay Eco-Crossing (Russia)
Russian swimmers Oleg Dokuchaev, Maria Chizhova, Pavel Komarov, Eugene Zozulya from Vladivostok and Andrey Bugay from Irkutsk crossed Lake Baikal that holds 20% of all drinking water on Planet Earth. Situated in the southern part of the Eastern Siberia, the quintet of Russian swimmers completed the 50 km course in 16 hours 11 minutes from Vydrino, Buryatia in 30-minute rotations as the water temperature fell from 14°C to 12°C as the air temperature dropped to 5°C and the winds picked up. Conditions continued to get worse until the water sunk to 5°C over the final 2 km, ending in Listvyanka, Irkutsk where the coldest water from the depths flow out to the Angara River. For dealing with increasingly colder and tougher over the entire 15-hour ordeal, for maintaining a high level of mutual support and focus while repeatedly handling the back-to-back immersions in cold water, and for completing an unprecedented relay crossing of the deepest lake in the world, the unprecedented Lake Baikal Relay Eco-Crossing by Oleg Dokuchaev, Maria Chizhova, Pavel Komarov, Eugene Zozulya, and Andrey Bugay is a worthy nominee for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.
5. Lake George Swim by Caroline Block, Ph.D. (USA)
6. Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli by Arianna Bridi (Italy)
Even after a disappointing 2019 when she failed to quality for the Tokyo Olympic Games and an unexpected pandemic this year that put a halt to her training, 25-year-old Arianna Bridi continued to train hard and did the frankly unexpected and totally improbable. Not only did she revive her long ongoing rivalry with Ana Marcela Cunha at the 36 km Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli in Italy, but she also beat all the professional men in a 1-2 all-female finish. But what was most remarkable in that professional marathon race was the world record that resulted. After decades of attracting the world’s best male and female swimmers in history including John Kinsella, Claudio Plit, Petar Stoychev, Veljko Rogošić, Paul Asmuth, Alfredo Camarero Yuri Kudinov, Nasser Elshazly, and Nabil Elshazly, Bridi set an overall course record of 6 hours 4 minutes. For swimming faster than every other professional marathon swimmer – male or female – since 1954, for touching out Ana Marcela Cunha by a 1 second in a close race to the finish, and for setting the bar almost impossibly high on one of the world’s most famed marathon swimming courses, the Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli victory and overall record by Arianna Bridi is a worthy nominee for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.
7. Monterey Bay Crossing by Catherine Breed (USA)
With a team of veteran Monterey Bay channel swimmers on her boat, NCAA pool swimmer-turned-marathon swimmer Catherine Breed dug deep and kept swimming through a cold, dark night across the foggy 40.2 km Monterey Bay in northern California. Without any sense of location due to fog that lay on the water surface, Breed could not distinguish between the water and sky for nearly the entire crossing. Effectively blinded by the conditions and guided solely through the fuzzy outline of her escort boat, she relied on the calm and experienced guidance of Kim Rutherford and Amy Gubser. In addition to the darkness of night and the thick blanket of fog, Breed encountered dozens of jellyfish with their painful venomous touch on her face and all over her body. She started in 14°C water and endured passing over the underwater Monterey Bay canyon with its water temperature drop and turbulent currents before finishing on the northern shore in 12 hours 42 minutes, the fastest time in history. For fighting through the pain of jellyfish stings, for completely trusting in her escort crew despite being disoriented throughout her crossing save for the last 500 meters, and for making a successful transition for warm-water chlorinated pools to the always dynamic marine environment with its unexpected obstacles, Catherine Breed’s record-setting crossing of Monterey Bay is a worthy nominee for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.
8. Peace Route Swim (Turkey)
Nine swimmers, ages 33 to 60, from Turkey took on an ambitious goal: to swim 91.27 km from Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus to the Turkish mainland. This was the first time this route had ever been attempted. Along the 37 hour 30 minute relay crossing in the Mediterranean Sea, Erman Akkaya (55), Temel Yakşi (60), Nükhet Atilgan (46), Mehmet Hilmi Soylu (43), Pelin Çelik (48), Zafer Özdem (60), Deniz Kayadelen (33), Burçak Tümay Pekel (33), and Murat Meto (47) encountered much marine life including sharks, while facing warm water and air. They laughed and they worried. They relaxed and they stressed out with the vastly dynamic sea conditions, ranging from a calm sea and tranquil conditions during the daytime hours to challenging turbulent conditions over a long night of uncertainty. For pioneering a new relay swim route from Northern Cyprus to the Turkish mainland, for bringing together young and older swimmers of both genders and various speeds in a successful relay, and for swimming for and celebrating peach through the expression of open water swimming on World Peace Day, the Peace Route Swim is a worthy nominee for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.
9. Sea of Galilee Perimeter Swim (Israel)
The Sea of Galilee Perimeter Swim in Israel was a breakout celebration stage swim by Udi Erell, Doron Amosi, Ben Enosh, Ori Sela, Oded Rahav, Luc Chetboun, Shani Moskuna, Adina Faur, Amnon Salai, Ami Ginsburg, Dror Belkin, Or Kind, Tal Fridman, Tal Snunit, Avishag Turek, Oded Gross, Erez Tzuk, and Tzvika. Held under strict safety protocols in the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 18 Israeli swimmers swam 18.1 km, 15.7 km and 13.4 km respectively during the three-day stage swim. Their tandem swim course was close to the entire shoreline of the Sea of Galilee. The unprecedented 48 km cumulative perimeter swim presented logistical difficulties and required a large escort crew, but the tandem swim was successful in completing the three separate courses, swimming 48 km in total. For initiating another environmental awareness and protection program where the theme is to keep the Sea of Galilee clean and safe, for the original vision of Ami Ginsberg to established a new marathon course and offer a celebration of open water swimming in Israel, and for all 18 swimmers who showed selflessness throughout, embodying teamwork and sharing a profound sense of camaraderie throughout their three days at sea, the Sea of Galilee Perimeter Swim is a worthy nominee for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.
10. Travessia do Leme ao Pontal by Mariana Chevalier (Brazil)
Inspired by a famous Brazilian song Do Leme ao Pontal, the 36 km Travessia do Leme ao Pontal has become the most popular marathon swim in South America. Mariana Chevalier Santos, a 16-year-old competitive swimmer, set off at 2:02 am in March along the coast of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on a starry night illuminated with a full moon, not fully knowing what to expect. As she swam along the edge of the well-lit municipality, Mariana became seasick – and stayed that way. But she forged on for a total of 9 hours 42 minutes, especially a fast last 10 km when she picked up her pace and kick. The beauty of the shoreline scenery helped her focus on her goal to become the youngest person to complete the Travessia. For her precocious sense of adventure, degree of tenacity, and abundance of perseverance on her first major marathon swim, for becoming the youngest successful swimmer of the Travessia do Leme ao Pontal swimming the third fastest time among women in history, and for utilizing this experience for a follow-up success in the English Channel four months later on a 11 hour 55 minute crossing, the record-setting Travessia do Leme ao Pontal by Mariana Chevalier Santos is a worthy nominee for the 2020 World Open Water Swimming Performance of the Year.
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