Like the fiercely competitive women’s field, the men’s 10K race at the 2010 World Open Water Swimming Championships in Roberval, Canada is totally stacked. Olympians, world champions, FINA World Cup victors and Olympic 10K Marathon Swim favorites are all here in Canada in the most important race leading up to the Olympic qualifier in 2011.

Among the men have been many questions about what swimsuits are acceptable after the new FINA rules went into effect on June 1st.

Zippers are not allowed and neither is polyurethane, but the textile suits have one major difference between the open water and the pool configurations: swimsuits for both men and women can go up to the shoulders and down to the ankles.

“Some men are even considering wearing a women’s swimsuit,” suggested Shelley Taylor-Smith. “Because suits are not designated male or female.”

The field is packed with power, stamina and speed. The start list for Sunday’s race is as follows:

Rhys Mainstone (AUS)
David Browne (AUS)
Sergiy Fesenko (AZE)
Tom Vangeneugden (BEL)
Brian Ryckeman (BEL)
Allan Do Carmo (BRA)
Filipe Alcantara (BRA)
Petar Stoychev (BUL)
Richard Weinberger (CAN)
Simon Tobin (CAN)
Tomislav Soldo (CRO)
Josip Soldo (CRO)
Jan Posmourny (CZE)
Rostislav Vitek (CZE)
Jakub Fichtl (CZE)
Ivan Enderica Ochoa (ECU)
Francisco Jose Hervas Jadar (ESP)
Diego Nogueira Montera (ESP)
Julien Codevelle (FRA)
Bertrand Venturi (FRA)
Daniel Fogg (GBR)
Thomas Allen (GBR)
Thomas Lurz (GER)
Christian Reichert (GER)
Spyridon Gianniotis (GRE)
Michael Dmitriev (ISR)
Luca Ferretti (ITA)
Valerio Cleri (ITA)
Rodrigo Elorza (MEX)
Ivan Lopez (MEX)
Chad Ho (RSA)
Evgeny Drattsev (RUS)
Vladimir Dyatchin (RUS)
Igor Chevynskiy (UKR)
Kostiantyn Ukradyga (UKR)
Francis Crippen (USA)
Charles Peterson (USA)

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones