With the intention to help develop future generations of open water swimmers and promote the sport, FINA will establish a new Junior World Open Water Swimming Championship event beginning in 2012.

These championships will have two categories: Youth races limited to athletes 14 – 16 years old and Junior races for athletes between 17 – 18 years old.

The athletes will compete over three distances: 5K, 7.5K and a 3K Team Event.

The Youth boys and girls will compete in the 5K while the Junior boys and girls will compete in the 7.5K. There will also be a mixed-gender 3K Team Event with 3 swimmers, either 2 boys and 1 girl or 2 girls and 1 boy in both the Youth and Junior categories.

Younger swimmers can ‘swim up’ – so 14 – 16 year olds may swim the 7.5K or 3K Team Event if their national federation so decides. There are no special requirements other than the athletes are representatives of their national federation.

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