As a professional marathon swimmer, Christine Jennings has an endless summer as she travels from beach to beach, qualification races to the World Championships, and several invitational events in between.

This week, the American from Colorado finds himself at the 19.5 km BCT Gdynia Marathon, a pro-am event in Poland. The event is organised and sponsored by Baltic Container Terminal in Gdynia and includes an open water swimming race of 2.95 km and a 4×200m relay race for amateurs to be held after the professional marathon race.

The field among women is small, but jam-packed with talent and experience. It is Jennings race to win as she has the experience as the defending champion. But American rival Emily Brunemann and Ukraine Olympian Olga Beresnyeva are not going to make it easy. This race will probably go right down to the wire.

The women’s professional field include:

1. Christine Jennings (USA)
2. Emily Brunemann (USA)
3. Inez Hahn (Germany)
4. Alexandra Sokolova (Russia)
5. Olga Beresnyeva (Ukraine)

Paulina Olczyk of the race organization reports that the water temperature is 18ºC (64ºF) with calm seas. “We’re hoping to have it the same conditions tomorrow. The swimmers had the possibility to swim in the sea, so everyone is looking forward for tomorrow.”

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