Masters Of The Open Water Universe
Masters aquatic athletes from all over the globe are slated to begin competition at the 13th FINA World Masters Championships in Sweden tomorrow. The Championships will conclude with a highly popular 3K open water swim on August 7th in Lake Delsjön in Göteborg, Sweden.
With age-group divisions between 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79, 80-84, 85-89 and 90-94 years, the men and women will begin together with an in-water start. Wetsuits may be worn, but swimmers who wear them are ineligible for medals. A wetsuit is defined by FINA as a swimsuit that has not been approved for swimming by FINA.
The water is so clean in Lake Delsjön, which serves as the main fresh water reservoir for the city of Göteborg, that the organizers state, “There is no need for a shower after the race.”
6,600 masters athletes from 74 countries will enter, with the majority of the athletes (5,000) participating in the pool swimming events and 977 athletes entered in the open water race.Thes open water swimmers include Bill Walker (born 1929 from Australia), Espir Aguad (born 1930 from Chile), Guiho Gabriel (1930 from France), Alfio Finy Fichera (born 1928 from Italy), Sydney Salek (born 1930 from New Zealand, shown on left), Daniel Duran (born 1930 from Uruguay) and Robert Beach (born 1930 from USA) who are all entered in the 80-84 year-old age-group.
Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones
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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