Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Over the last few weeks, the open water swimming world has been exploding with action and adventure. Daily and non-stop – the number of achievements and accomplishments have been constant and unprecedented.
Not only did hundreds of the fastest open water swimmers on the planet gather in Kazan, Russia for the world championships and fight it out for berths in the 2016 Rio Olympics, but there have been a slew of triumphant solo swims and dozens of relays in challenging conditions and hundreds of fascinating races.
This particular stretch of unprecedented open water activity kicked off with American Haley Anderson and South African Chad Ho winning the 5 km FINA World Championships in dramatic fashion. Then American Jordan Wilimovsky and Frenchwoman Aurélie Muller led a group of 20 world-class swimmers who qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the 10 km marathon swim.
There was also a great national team battle between Germany and the Netherlands and Brazil that preceded some very close 25 km world championship races where Ana Marcela Cunha and Simone Ruffini won. Meanwhile, Sharon van Rouwendaal was Lurz-like and repeatedly demonstrated her prowess in both the pool and open water.
Races crowded the event calendar all over the world and included Canada’s Traversée internationale du lac Mégantic, Switzerland’s International Self-Transcendence Marathon-Schwimmen, Serbia’s Šabac International Swimming Marathon, Quebec’s famed professional Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean, and the Los Angeles Special Olympics World Summer Games where Rachele Bruni, Rhys Mainstone, John Zemaitis, Jo Yetman, Duje Milan, Jelena Jecanski, Chip Peterson, Christine Jennings, Xavier Desharnais and Pilar Geijo each won their respective competitions.
Then trying to mimic the English Channel and Catalina Channel, the North Channel between Northern Ireland and Scotland was crowded with swimmers and successes. These included the Infinity V relay, the Fast and Frozen relay, Rohans More, Graeme Lowe, Adrian Sarchet, and Vicky Miller. The Farallon Islands was similarly hopping with Kim Chambers, Simon Dominguez and Team Nadadores each taking their time in the sharky waters.
There were the usual stalwarts in the open water, like Penny Palfrey, Nejib Belhedi, Marilyn Korzekwa, Sarah Thomas, John Humenik, Kris Rutford, Bridgett Hobart, and Matthew Moseley who continued to ply their trade in oceans, seas, lakes and rivers around the world.
Solo swims all over the world included:
*Alex Cape and Susan Simmons attempt of an unprecedented 105 km swim in Canada
*Wendy Trehiou‘s swim between Saint-Malo and Jersey
*Chris Ring‘s stage swim down the Mississippi River
*Chloë McCardel‘s 36 hour 12 minute three-way English Channel crossing
*Kim Chambers‘ swim from the Farallon Islands to the Golden Gate Bridge
*Dr Daniel Fung, Thomas Bell, Chris Burke achieved the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming
*Grant Wentworth across the Nantucket Sound
For more details of these events, visit the links below:
*Haley Anderson Kicks Off World Championships With Another Gold
*Forward Ho, Chad Win South Africa’s First Gold
*Aurélie Muller Wins World Championships, Heading To Rio
*Jordan Wilimovsky Leads Talented Field To Rio
*Germany Takes 5 km Team Pursuit Title
*Ana Marcela Cunha Outlasts Marathoners
*Simone Ruffini Explains His 25 km World Championship
*To Infinity And Beyond To Scotland
*Full Of Guts, Full Of Courage, Short Of Goal
*Wendy Swims 24 Hours Between Saint-Malo and Jersey
*Swimming Down The Mississippi Has A Certain Ring To It
*Chloë McCardel Becomes #4 To Go 3
Rachele Bruni Wins Traversée internationale du lac Mégantic
*Mainstone Rhys To The Occasion In lac Mégantic
*Kim Swims To The Golden Gate Bridge
*And Penny Palfrey Makes Three
*John Zemaitis, Jo Yetman Go Bioprene Across Lake Zürich In International Self-Transcendence Marathon-Schwimmen
*Nejib Belhedi Completes Another World Iron Swim
*Graeme Lowe Reaches Scottish Shore From Jersey
*Rohans Wants More
*Oceans Four Out Of Seven For Adrian
*Busy Times For Sharon Van Rouwendaal
*Sarah Thomas, John Humenik Set Record in 3RMS
*Marilyn Korzekwa Succeeds At 3 Provinces Swim
*Swimming Sabac Fastest, Duje Milan And Jelena Jecanski
*Vicky Miller Makes It Across The North Channel
*Matthew Moseley’s Trifecta In A Lake, An Ocean, A River
*Team Nadadores Locos Does Two Way
*Kris Rutford Gets Around New York Like No Other
*Dr Daniel Fung Rolls Onto Triple Crown
*Sights, Scenes, Stars And Stories at the Special Olympics World Summer Games
*When Sharks Circle
*Bridgett Hobart Finishes Stage 3 Of 9
*Grant Wentworth Earned $11,667 Per Hour
*Dramatic Daring Double by Fast and Frozen
*Chris Burke Hits Grand Slam En Route To Triple Crown
*Xavier Desharnais
*Pilar Geijo Wins 4th Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean
*Overachiever Thomas Bell
Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association