Courtesy of FINA, Lausanne, Switzerland.
At the FINA headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, a meeting was held in November where FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu lorded over the Technical Open Water Swimming Committee meeting that was held to decide the race calendars of FINA’s open water swimming competitions.
The FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee (TOWSC) governs the FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series and the FINA UltraMarathon Swim Series and the individual race organizers as well as analyzes and defines strategies for the sport going forward.
Marculescu, the TOWSC members, and race directors from around the world (including Jeremie Bonneau of Canada, Pierre Pelletier of Canada, Pedro Brandão of Portugal, Alexandra Désilets of Canada, Aleksandar Malenko of Macedonia, Marcelo Micocci of Argentina, Zoltán Sió of Hungary, Dávid Szántó of Hungary, and David Vidot of Seychelles) reviewed and discussed the state of the sport with an attempt to add new races into the FINA calendar.
While the FINA UltraMarathon Swim Series events have been organized and announced (57 km Maratón Acuática Internacional Santa Fe – Coronda on February 3rd in Santa Fe, Argentina, 32 km Traversée Internationale du lac St-Jean on July 27th in lac St-Jean, Quebec, Canada, and 25 km Ohrid Lake Swim Marathon on August 24th in Ohrid, Macedonia), the dates of the FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series have yet to be announced, leading to a growing uncertainty among swimmers, coaches, and administrators.
Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil and Barbara Pozzobon of Italy competed in the FINA circuits and are both nominated for the 2018 World Open Water Swimming Woman of the Year.
Ana Marcela Cunha won the FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series in 2018, her fourth career World Series title (after winning in 2010, 2012 and 2014) in addition to winning 3 FINA UltraMarathon Swim Series titles in 2011, 2015 and 2017. The newly inducted International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame Honor Swimmer won races in Brazil, Hungary and Canada. Her victory in Canada’s lac St-Jean was her 20th career FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series victory.
This year, Pozzobon finished second in the 57 km Maratón Acuática Internacional Santa Fe – Coronda, won the 32 km Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean, won the 25 km Ohrid Lake Marathon in Macedonia and the 36 km Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli to capture the 2018 FINA UltraMarathon Swim Series title. She also finished 6th in the World University Games 10 km in Taiwan.
Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands and Kristóf Rasovszky of Hungary competed in the FINA circuits and are both nominated for the 2018 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year.
Ferry Weertman won races from the RCP Tiburon Mile in San Francisco to the FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series race in Qatar and won the 2018 FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series in addition to winning the 10 km marathon swim and the 5 km mixed team relay at the 2018 LEN European Championships in Scotland’s Loch Lomond.
Kristóf Rasovszky won the FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series race in Setúbal Bay in Portugal and finished second in a photo finish in the 10 km race at the 2018 LEN European Championships in Loch Lomond, Scotland as well as winning the 5 km and 25 km races at the European Championships.
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