It has been very cool to observe Tower 26’s Gerry Rodrigues (@tower_26)and local lifeguards coach top American triathlete Olympic hopefuls on the actual LA28 Olympic triathlete course in Venice Beach in Southern California this week. Their training camp was inadvertently timed during a period of especially high surf with pounding waves and fast currents due to a hurricane along Mexico’s Baja California coast that was combined with elevated seasonal high tides.
They augmented their rough water training in the Pacific Ocean with in’s-and-out’s, bodysurfing, dolphining, drafting, and current reading. Their second session of the day included pool sessions held nearby in El Segundo where their pool workouts are filled with deck-ups, pacing, drafting, sighting, and dealing with physicality.
That is, the specificity of their training – both in the ocean and pool – are entirely geared towards preparing them for exactly what they might face on race day at the LA28 Olympics in two years. All aspects, all possibilities, every perspective is covered, taught, demonstrated, and practiced, over and over again. It is what you would expect of Olympians. Coach Rodrigues said, “On a day like this when the surf is large, the athletes have to be prepared to take what is given to them – and learn to optimize the conditions in the moment.”
Coral Kemp, a local lifeguard, assisted in coaching the USA Triathlon LA28 Olympic hopefuls. She explained the day’s activities above.
A week earlier, coach Phil Clayton (@philclaytonandco) and 2008 and 2012 Olympic marathon swimmer Ky Hurst (MSF bio here, World Aquatics bio here, @ky_hurst) visited the same stretch of beach and lifeguards to similarly prepare their athletes Down Under for the same LA28 triathlon races. The French, the British, and all the top teams and promising athletes with Olympic dreams are doing the same.
With the LA28 Olympics now less than two years out, athletes that span the entire spectrum of Olympic athleticism are doing the same.
Except for the Olympic open water swimmers.
Why not?
No one – but a small handful of administrators – know the Olympic open water swim course.
Will the Olympic open water course be in Long Beach? That seems pretty certain.
But then again, the Olympic triathlon course was recently switched from Long Beach to Venice Beach. The Olympic surfing competition was switched from Huntington Beach to Lower Trestles in San Clemente. There are other venue and location changes for dryland sports.
Will the LA28 Olympic open water swim have a test event in 2027 or 2028? No one knows.
The differences between the triathletes and the Olympic open water swimmers could not be more different.
© 2026 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
“to educate, enthuse, and entertain all those who venture beyond the shoreline“
World Open Water Swimming Federation, a human-powered project.