Around The World In Competition And Camaraderie
Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California. Guillermo Bértola of Argentina and Xavier Desharnais of Canada have both long traveled around the world competing in a number of races on the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix and on the FINA 10K Marathon Swim World Cup circuits as well as at FINA World Championships and professional invitational races.
Between the duo, they have won 3 of the last 4 Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean races [see their interview here]. While they remain fierce competitors in the water, often swimming for hours in the same pack, they enjoy a close camaraderie outside the water – quite common among the 20-something and 30-something professional marathon swimmers.
Photos show the marathon swimmers after a professional marathon race in Québec’s lac Mégantic, before the Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli in Italy, and at the recent Rei e Rainha do Mar in Copacabana Beach in Brazil.
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Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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