Video courtesy of Intérieur Sport, Doha, Qatar.

The first stop on the 2018 FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series is in Doha, Qatar this weekend.

Here are some observations of the start list of 72 men and 44 women who will compete after months of training hard throughout the fall, winter and early spring:

1. It is great to see two athletes from Seychelles participating: Damien Payet and Bertrand Payet and one from Algeria (Souad Nefissa Cherouati) competing in Doha.

2. Water will be comfortable in the 19-23C° range.

3. It will be interesting to see the competitiveness and stamina of world and Olympic champions Sharon van Rouwendaal and Ferry Weertman.

4. Under the supervision of French Swimming Federation Directeur de L’Eau libre Stéphane Lecat, the French is bringing a large 23-member team including Olympic and world medalist Marc-Antoine Olivier and Oceane Maryse Jeannie Cassignol, Adeline Furst, Lara Grangeon, Ilona Michele Lourdes Maille, Lisa Lydie Madeleine Pou, Claire Georgina Anne-Marie Six, David Aubry, Clement Raymond Daniel Batte, Jean-Baptiste Yann Hubert Clusman, Aubin Louis Coccordano, Baptiste Alexandre Colmant, Marin Remy Corneille Debril, Logan Fontaine, Clement Jean Gerard Kukla, Pablo le Corre, Leo Jean-Charles Ammar Ouabdesselam, Axel Reymond [shown above], Enzo Alexandre Pascal Roldan Munoz, Hugo Frederic Emmanuel Saillard, Alexis Leon Lucien Vandevelde, Jules Laurent Wallart, and Fares Riyad Mustapha Zitouni.

5. 2016 Olympic 1500m champion Gregorio Paltrinieri will be pushed by his Italian teammates Simone Ruffini, Matteo Furlan, and Mario Sanzullo.

6. Overall, swimmers from 24 countries are competing, but no Americans or Russians are scheduled to compete.

FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series Female Participants:
* Kalliopi Araouzou (Greece)
* Samantha Arevalo (Ecuador)
* Leonie Beck (Germany)
* Eva Bonnet (Belgium)
* Sarah Bosslet (Germany)
* Lea Boy (Germany)
* Mackenzie Morgan Brazier (Australia)
* Arianna Bridi (Italy)
* Rachele Bruni (Italy)
* Justyna Dorota Burska (Poland)
* Oceane Maryse Jeannie Cassignol (France)
* Souad Nefissa Cherouati (Algeria)
* Ana Marcela Cunha (Brazil)
* Martina de Memme (Italy)
* Maria de Valdes Alvarez (Spain)
* Alice Dearing (Great Britain)
* Adeline Furst (France)
* Giulia Gabrielleschi (Italy)
* Lara Grangeon (France)
* Phoebe Louise Griffiths (Great Britain)
* Chelsea Gubecka (Australia)
* Chloe Anne Gubecka (Australia)
* Stephanie Horner (Canada)
* Danielle Huskisson (Great Britain)
* Viviane Jungblut (Brazil)
* Kareena Lee (Australia)
* Shan Lei (China)
* Ilona Michele Lourdes Maille (France)
* Angela Maurer (Germany)
* Yukimi Moriyama (Japan)
* Minami Niikura (Japan)
* Anna Olasz (Hungary)
* Krystyna Panchishko (Ukraine)
* Lisa Lydie Madeleine Pou (France)
* Paula Ruiz (Spain)
* Claire Georgina Anne-Marie Six (France)
* Jeannette Spiwoks (Germany)
* Sharon van Rouwendaal (Netherlands)
* Esmee Vermeulen (Netherlands)
* Finnia Wunram (Germany)
* Xin Xin (China)
* Siyu Yan (China)
* Svenja Zihsler (Germany)

Male Participants
* Aiman Al Qasmi (Oman)
* Jiabao An (China)
* Gaspar Andrade Budino (Spain)
* Yosuke Aoki (Japan)
* Bailey Armstrong (Australia)
* David Aubry (France)
* Clement Raymond Daniel Batte (France)
* David Brandl (Austria)
* Jack Burnell (Great Britain)
* Igor Chervynskiy (Ukraine)
* Jean-Baptiste Yann Hubert Clusman (France)
* Aubin Louis Coccordano (France)
* Baptiste Alexandre Colmant (France)
* Marin Remy Corneille Debril (France)
* Allan do Carmo (Brazil)
* Esteban Enderica Salgado (Ecuardor)
* Hau-Li Fan (Canada)
* David Farinango (Ecuador)
* Logan Fontaine (France)
* Matteo Furlan (Italy)
* Eric Hedlin (Canada)
* Marcus Herwig (Germany)
* Yasunari Hirai (Japan)
* Caleb Hughes (Great Britain)
* Simon Huitenga (Australia)
* Aleksandar Ilievski (Macedonia)
* Christopher Jedel (Sweden)
* Victor Johansson (Sweden)
* Kenessary Kenenbayev (Kazakhstan)
* Vitaliy Khudyakov (Kazakhstan)
* Arti Krasniqi (Germany)
* Clement Jean Gerard Kukla (France)
* Pablo le Corre (France)
* Shuyi Liu (China)
* Alberto Martinez Murcia (Spain)
* Nicolas Masse-Savard (Canada)
* Soren Detlef Meissner (Germany)
* Taishin Minamide (Japan)
* Abdelrahman Mohamed (Qatar)
* Naim Mokhfi (France)
* Rob Frederik Muffels (Germany)
* Dimitrios Negris (Greece)
* Taiki Nonaka (Japan)
* Leo Jean-Charles Ammar Ouabdesselam (France)
* Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy)
* Bertrand Payet (Seychelles)
* Damien Payet (Seychelles)
* Krzysztof Pielowski (Poland)
* Fernando Ponte (Brazil)
* Evgenij Pop Acev (Macedonia)
* Kristof Rasovszky (Hungary)
* Christian Reichert (Germany)
* Axel Reymond (France)
* Tobias Patrick Robinson (Great Britain)
* Enzo Alexandre Pascal Roldan Munoz (France)
* Simone Ruffini (Italy)
* Hugo Frederic Emmanuel Saillard (France)
* Mario Sanzullo (Italy)
* Marcel Schouten (Netherlands)
* Oliver Campbell Signorini (Australia)
* Nicholas James Sloman (Australia)
* Pepijn Smits (Netherlands)
* Elliot Sodemann (Sweden)
* Alexander Studzinski (Germany)
* Alexis Leon Lucien Vandevelde (France)
* Diogo Villarinho (Brazil)
* Jules Laurent Wallart (France)
* Andreas Waschburger (Germany)
* Kaito Watanuki (Japan)
* Ferry Weertman (Netherlands)
* Fares Riyad Mustapha Zitouni (France)
* Lijun Zu (China)

For more information about the FINA World Series, visit here.

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