In 16 days, Barcelona, Spain will host the 15th FINA World Championships, where over 2,000 of the best aquatic athletes representing more than 170 nations will compete six disciplines – swimming, diving, water polo, synchronised swimming, open water swimming, and high diving.

The open water swimming competition will be held from July 20th – 27th in the 5 km, 10 km, 25 km, and 5 km Team Pursuit event at Moll de la fusta in the port of Barcelona. Over 150 open water swimmers from nearly 50 countries will take part.

There will be 8 reigning world or Olympic champions vying for the thousands of dollars in cash prizes that come with a podium finish: Thomas Lurz (GER), Spyridon Gianniotis (GRE), Vladimir Dyatchin (RUS), Oussama Mellouli (TUN), Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA), Eva Risztov (HUN), Martina Grimaldi (ITA), and Swann Oberson (SUI).

Since open water swimming was added to the FINA World Championships in 1991, the stars have stood out.

Thomas Lurz has stood out at the world championships with 10 gold, 3 silver, and 3 bronze medals. Yuri Kudinov has captured 5 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze. Vladimir Dyatchin has won 3 gold, 3 silver, and 4 bronze. Larisa Ilchenko (RUS) has 8 gold and 1 silver, Edith van Dijk (NED) has 6 gold, 5 silver, and 4 bronze, and Viola Valli (ITA) has 5 gold, 2 silver, and 1 bronze.

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