Open Water

Longtime open water swimmer Alex Kostich made history on Aug. 5, crossing Lake Tahoe in 4 hours, 28 minutes, 55 seconds, the fastest crossing time, according to the World Open Water Swimming Association. The 12-mile trek across was what the open water community calls the "True Width" of Lake Tahoe. ...

Lithuanian endurance athlete and award-winning animation director Meinardas Valkevičius successfully completed a historic swim across the Baltic Sea. He is the first documented person to cross  from Kristianopel, Sweden, to Palanga, Lithuania, a journey of 366 km that spanned 21 days. Valkevičius be...

Three Open Water Swims to Complete in the Florida Keys Open Water swims take place weekly all across the United States. From lakes to oceans to the Gulf of Mexico, open water swimming offers an outlet for retired swimmers, current swimmers, and serious competitors alike. Florida – particularly the F...

Why Open Water Swimming Deserves More Attention in the U.S.  At the break of dawn, a group of swimmers step into a quiet lake, scanning the open horizon. There are no lane lines, no black lines on the bottom of the pool. Simply the water, wind, and the unknown. This is open water swimming. It is raw...

11 Swimmers Complete Long Island Sound 10K for Swim Across America Eleven open water swimmers last Saturday completed a 10-kilometer swim across Long Island Sound to raise more than $2 million for Swim Across America’s fight against cancer. The group of four women and seven men swam 6.21 miles from ...

Adult swimmers 18+ are finding coaching, community, and fitness in Masters programs nationwide. First, relax: you don’t need to be “a master” to join. Masters Swimming is simply organized, coached swimming for adults. Whether you want structured fitness, race‑ready training, or a friendly lane commu...

An Inside Look at the Yangtze River Crossing Festival On July 16, 2025, the Chinese city of Wuhan made waves with the 50th Yangtze River Crossing festival, an exhilarating yet challenging 1800-meter swim across the Yangtze, the third largest river in the world. Seventy international elite athletes, ...

Trans Tahoe Relay 2025 Results & Recap: Top Teams, Rivalries, and What’s Next July 21, 2025 Race‑Day Overview At sunrise on July 19, more than 230 relay teams and solo swimmers dove into Lake Tahoe’s 64+ °F water at Sand Harbor, Nevada, to begin the 11‑mile crossing to Skylandia Beach, California. ...

World Championships: Florian Wellbrock Anchors German Open Water Relay to Gold, Completes Sweep With Fourth Gold For the last six years, Florian Wellbrock has posted masterful results in both the pool and open water, navigating between the two very different formats more effectively than perhaps any...

World Championships: Florian Wellbrock Caps Sweep of Open Water Events with Knockout Decision; Ichika Kajimoto Breaks Through Already the champion of the 5k and 10k open-water events, Germany's Florian Wellbrock completed a sweep of the individual disciplines at the World Championships on Saturday. ...

World Championships: Florian Wellbrock, Moesha Johnson Double Up with 5k Titles Make it World Championships doubles for Germany's Florian Wellbrock and Australia's Moesha Johnson, as the open-water stars captured gold medals in the 5k events on Friday in Singapore. The latest victories from Wellbroc...

Catherine Breed Dives in for Lake Tahoe Swim to Prepare for 'Swim California' in 2026 Former Cal All-American Catherine Breed, ultra‑endurance swimmer and founder of Sea Dreamers, has embarked on a swimming circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe beginning July 16, 2025, from Skylandia Beach. This 60-plus .....

World Championships: Women's 10k Open-Water Event Postponed Due to Poor Water-Quality Levels One day before open-water competition was set to begin at the World Championships in Singapore, World Aquatics and the Singapore 2025 Organizing Committee have announced that the women's 10k event has been p...

Hundreds of swimmers and volunteers are gearing up to dive in and make waves at the 7th annual Swim Across America – Motor City Mile open water swim on Friday, July 11, 2025, at the Belle Isle Beach House in Detroit. Participants can choose from .25-mile, .5-mile, 1-mile or 2-mile courses, and land ...

Beyond the Lane Lines: Finding Joy in Open Water Swimming Swimming doesn’t have to be a sport that ends after the club or college days. Thanks to its low-impact nature and wide-ranging health benefits, it's one of the few sports that can be enjoyed well into adulthood. It also provides an opportunit...

Former Team USA swimmer and NCAA champion Catherine Breed has announced a plan to "Swim California" in 2026. The swim will be the first known attempt to swim the full length of the California coast from Oregon to Mexico. Previously Breed has swam the English Channel, Lake Tahoe and Monterey Bay. ...

Lewis Pugh Completes Martha’s Vineyard ‘Shark Swim’ Circumnavigation British swimmer Lewis Pugh on Monday competed the first of its kind “Shark Swim” around Martha’s Vineyard. The swim, timed to the 50th anniversary of the release of the blockbuster Jaws, was planned to raise awareness of shark cons...

Germany's Oliver Klemet, Lea Boy Claim Open Water Cup 3K Sprint Knockout Titles Stop 2 of the World Aquatics Open Water Cup concluded from Ibiza, Spain, with the 3K knockout sprints. Germany's Oliver Klemet earned the gold medal with a finals time of 4:50.50. Hungary's David Bethlehem took the silve...

Claire Weinstein, Ivan Puskovitch Secure 5K Titles at U.S. Open Water Nationals There's a good chance that Claire Weinstein will represent the United States in the pool at this summer's World Championships in Singapore. After all, Weinstein has established herself as a regular on the Team USA roster...

Canada Nominates Emma Finlin, Eric Brown for World Championship Canada’s Emma Finlin and Eric Brown are in line for spots at the World Championships this summer in open water swimming after their finishes at the U.S. Open Water Championships on Friday. Finlin finished ninth in the women’s race in Sa...