Roman Urbina, 30 Years Later Still A Pioneer
Roman Urbina is a swimmer from Costa Rica who pioneered a 25 km swim in the Gulf of Nicoya in Costa Rica in 1982 in 4 hours 24 minutes. The Gulf of Nicoya is an inlet of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Nicoya Peninsula from the mainland of Costa Rica, and encompasses a marine and coastal landscape of wetlands, rocky islands and cliffs.
The swim dramatically and positively changed his life.
Now, 30 years later, Urbina has decided to pioneer a new open water monofin swim (fin swimming) in Costa Rica where he will swim up to 19 km from Playa Agujas on the Pacific Coast to Playa Heradura on February 9th (an estimated 4.5-hour fin swim).
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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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