Igor Chervynskiy (42, Ukraine, World Aquatic bio, @igorchervynskiy) competed in three Olympics, racing the 1500m freestyle at the 2004 Athens Olympics at the age of 22. The next year, he switched from the pool to the open water. It was a successful transformation as he ended up qualifying for the 10 km marathon swim at both the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics and competing in at least 62 professional marathon swims around the world.

After his last open water race in Setúbal, Portugal at the December 2024 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup, where he placed 27th at the age of 42, he was injured during the war in Ukraine. It was an injury to his leg. Sergiy Fesenko reported, “A drone dropped a grenade right under his leg. It happened during their attempt to reclaim some of the lost trench positions in front line.”

He is back in the water and recently won the Ukrainian 5000m championship in the 50m pool.

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