The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics Games are scheduled to run from July 14th to July 30th.

In a change from past Olympic Games schedules, the pool swimming events will be held during the second week of the LA28 Olympics. Traditionally, pool swimming has been held in the first week while track & field events have been held in the second week.

In contrast to the 1932 and 1984 Olympics that were also held in Los Angeles, the Opening Ceremonies will not be held in the Los Angeles Memorial Stadium. Instead, the 2028 Opening Ceremonies will be held in SoFi stadium, the stadium currently used by National Football League teams (Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers) that also hosts concerts and other major sporting events. Located in Inglewood near the LAX International Airport, it is the largest stadium in the NFL with a seating capacity of 70,000 spectators that can be expanded to 100,000.

Because the SoFi Stadium will also host swimming events, LA28 will switch the traditional order of events, with track and field competing first to allow for time to set up two 50-meter pools (one for competition, one for warm-ups and cool-downs).

Impact on Marathon Swimming

The Olympic 10K Marathon Swim has traditionally been held during the second week of the Olympics (in Beijings rowing basin in 2008, London’s Serpentine in 2012, Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach in 2016, Tokyo Bay in 2021, and Paris’ Seine in 2014) , but due to the overlap of the pool events with the marathon swim if held during the second week, the marathon swim will need to be held during the first week.

If all holds true to predictions, there will be few marathon swimming women also competing in the pool, with the exception of Australian silver medalist Moesha Johnson and American silver medalist Katie Grimes, although in 3 years time, there will undoubtedly be newcomers who will double up in both the marathon swimming and pool events in LA28.

But on the men’s side, there were several swimmers who have doubled up in the pool and open water before – and may do so again in LA28. Those potential dual athletes include:

• Felix Auboeck of Austria
• Guilherme Costa of Brazil
• Carlos Garach Benito of Spain
• Oliver Klemet of Germany
• Florian Wellbrock of Germany
• Athanasios Charalampos Kynigakis of Greece
• David Betlehem of Hungary
• Daniel Wiffen of Ireland
• Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy
• Paulo Strehlke Delgado of Mexico
• Henrik Christiansen of Norway
• Victor Johansson of Sweden
• Ahmed Jaouadi of Tunisia
• Kuzey Tuncelli of Turkey
• David Johnston of the USA

Doubling Up

Doubling up will definitely require a lot of preparation and thought for each athlete.

While the fastest pool swimmers can be confident that the LA28 Alamitos Beach course in Long Beach will be suitable to their talents because the course will be warm and flat – and void of all the unknowns of the highly technical course in the Seine River in Paris.

On the other hand, the athletes will have to consider the potential impact of competing in a hard 10 km marathon swim before their pool events, especially if they compete in the 400 IM, 800m freestyle, and/or 1500m freestyle events – each with preliminary heats and a final. Some will be able to recover without any concerns; others may want to focus on the events where they are more likely to medal and will forego an event where they are less likely to final or finish in a podium position.

Alamitos Beach

Alamitos Beach, site of the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games 1.5 km open water race, is a salt water course set in the Pacific Ocean that is located within the Long Beach Breakwater, on the south side of Long Beach Marina and north of the sailing events located off the Belmont Pier.

With an expected early morning start, there is expected to be either no wind or very little wind – and no perceivable tidal flows or wave action. The course should be as tranquil as possible for an open water course in July 2028.

Olympic 10K Marathon Swim Course

While the 10 km marathon course has not been announced yet, the triathlon swim course will be located near Grissom Island, one of four artificial islands in San Pedro Bay within the Long Beach Breakwater.

The islands were built in 1965 by a consortium of Texaco, Humble, Unocal, Mobil and Shell to drill oil, but the companies designed landscaping and sound walls to camouflage the operation and reduce noise. The islands are the only decorated oil islands in the United States. Since 1967, they are known as the Astronaut Islands with each island named in honor of a NASA astronaut who lost their lives in service. Grissom is named after Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom who lost his life in a 1967 Apollo 1 launch pad accident.

Other than a simple illustration of the Long Beach Waterfront [see below], LA28 has not announced any information on the preparations or course layout for the marathon swim at the 2028 Olympics. These plans are being formulated over the next few years.

However, we have three hints that keep us guessing about the marathon swim course:

• It will be held in the same beach area – Alamitos Beach – as the triathlon and will most likely use the same starting pontoon, same start preparation areas, tents, and athlete introduction protocols (with large screen scoreboards), and same turn buoys as the Olympic triathlon events. The in-water finish pontoon will, of course, differ from the triathlon events.
• It will be held in the same area as the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games 1.5 km rectangular course was.
• If the marathon swim course is a 6-loop course, then the total loop distance will be 1.66 km – which is fairly close to the 1.5 km loop course used in the triathlon events. This difference of 160 meters will be easy for the organizers to switch between the marathon swim and the triathlon.

City of Long Beach

The 10 km marathon swim course and site will also be shared by the Olympic triathlon races (both solo and mixed team). Beach volleyball will be close.

The City of Long Beach will host the marathon swim as well as the team handball, canoe sprint and rowing, sailing, water polo, and triathlon events with surfing to be held in nearby Huntington Beach.

For more information from LA28, visit here.

© 2025 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“

A World Open Water Swimming Federation project.