Over the many years of writing about open water swimming, there is often great interest on the part of some swimmers to set records.

These individuals want to be the first, fastest, slowest, oldest, youngest, longest (whether by distance or time), earliest-to-complete a swim, or latest-to-complete a swim) swimmers (either overall or female or male) to achieve their goals in channel crossings, marathon swims, ice swims, stage swims, or different series (e.g., Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming or Oceans Seven).

Becoming the fastest is – always – left for those who are literally the fastest. But some swimmers want to know if they are the fastest in a certain age group or from a certain country (or state or province or region).

Becoming the oldest – on the face of it – seems to be an issue to address. But some swimmers want to know if they are the oldest from a certain country (or state or province or region). Here, things start to get complicated.

Research Steps

Doing this research is not as easy as it sounds. But these are the steps that I recommend:

• Step 1: Confirm the names of all the swimmers (either male or female or overall) who have completed their desired swim on the Marathon Swimmers Federation LongSwimsDB.
• Step 2: Eliminate all the names in Step 1 that you might know would not be in this particular category (e.g., do not consider swimmers who younger than 40 years old if you are researching at swim performed by the oldest swimmer).
• Step 3: Confirm the ages of all the possible swimmers who have completed your swim in question on the Marathon Swimmers Federation LongSwimsDB.
• Step 4: Create a short list or determine the current record holder from your preliminary list.  In the case that the specific information (e.g., ages or birthdates) is not known (e.g., in the case of two swimmers who have the same birth year or nationality), further research is necessary – but at least you have narrowed your research to a preliminary list.

Decisions can still get very complicated.

Consider the case about the nationality of a swimmer (considering the first, fastest, oldest, youngest, longest in duration or distance, earliest-to-complete, or latest-to-complete categories). The issue can become significantly more difficult to answer based on the following questions:

• Must the individual be born in the specific [country/region/state/province] to two individuals who were themselves also born in that same area and who do not have dual citizenship?
• Can an individual be included in this list who was not born in the specific [country/region/state/province], but who currently live in that specific area (either through marriage or emigration or work, either permanently or temporarily)?
• Can an individual be included in this list who was not born in the specific [country/region/state/province] and who does not currently live in that specific area, but is that there by nationality or marriage or changing of her nationality?
• Can an individual be included in this list who was born in the specific [country/region/state/province], but who is not currently living in that specific area either due to marriage or work or her lifestyle choice?
• Can an individual be on this list who has since passed away?
• How long must an individual be in the area to qualify: born there, lived there since childhood or teenage years or adulthood or less than a year ago?
• Can a transgender athlete be included in this list (while this category of athletes most probably is not an issue at the current time, it may be an issue in the future)?

In summary, these questions are not easily or quickly answered if a swimmer wants to know if they are the first person to achieve a specific swim.  

Para Swimming

Designations among para swimmers have always been – and will continue to be – issues to debate. A small sampling of issues include this short list.

• Blindness: Is a swimmer who has been blind from birth be in the same category as a swimmer who become blind later in life? Are there different categories of visual impairment (e.g., blindness in one eye versus partial or low vision, or complete blindness)? It can get complicated when we consider that some may swim straight with the help of a tether on a pace swimmer while others are guided through sound (e.g., swim to the left on one whistle, swim to the right on two whistles, stop on a two short whistles).
• Physical Impairment: In the Paralympics, swimmers with physical disabilities are grouped into classes S1 to S10, with S1 representing the most severe impairment and S10 the least.  Lower numbers indicate a greater degree of physical impairment affecting movement, muscle power, and coordination.  Records in the open water are not kept – at least currently – based on the Paralympic S1 to S10 categories…but should they be? Yes seems to be the logical and most appreciated conclusion, but who will keep track of these categories?
• Intellectual Impairments: Should record categories exist for swimmers with Down Syndrome or those with intellectual impairment combined with a physical impairment? Yes seems to be the logical and most appreciated conclusion, but who will keep track of these categories?
• Hearing Impairment: Paralympic swimmers with hearing loss are classified as S15. Keeping track of these record holders might be of interest to many.

Different Strokes

While the vast majority of records are naturally reserved for freestylers, what about stroke-specific categories such as butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, combat stroke, and individual medley? What are the specific rules for starts, finishes, or feedings?

Summary

The questions and issues above simply touch the surface of various issues that are raised by those swimmers who want to become a record holder.

As they say on the Internet, it is (or can be) complicated.

James Pittar, International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer, is shown above.

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