The pecking order among the highest echelon of men’s competitive open water swimming seems like it is about to change.

While there are a handful of superstars hanging around and not ready to retire – Spyridon Gianniotis, Thomas Lurz, Oussama Mellouli, and Richard Weinberger – there are a number of men ready and able to take their traditional place on the podium.

Some Leading Men have been around for years and have already tasted a bit of success on the world’s stage – Valerio Cleri, Allan Do Carmo, Chad Ho, Alex Meyer, and Brian Ryckeman.

But some of the men are just beginning to get a taste of medal in these mouths – or are focused on climbing the podium for the first time at the upcoming FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. Competitors like Sergey Bolshakov, Christopher Bryan, Daniel Fogg, Hercules Troyden Prinsloo, Sean Ryan, Ferry Weertman, and Mario Sanzullo.

It is this last group of Young Guns who have a deep fire in their bellies. They can really serve to upset the natural order in the open water swimming world. If Bolshakov (shown above) gets a good position at key points in the race; if Bryan enjoys the race of his dreams; if Fogg can hang onto his usual early lead; if Prinsloo swims strategically; if Ryan finally brings it all together, or if Sanzullo closes with a surprising sprint, then the Old Dogs will be taught some new tricks.

But the Tog Dogs, those wise veterans of strategy and tactics backed by a well-developed ability to sustain a ferocious pace over the last 5 km, like Gianniotis, Lurz, Mellouli, and Weinberger are not about to allow changes on the top deck at the world’s 10 km championships. This quartet of Top Dogs looks like it can hold off any and all of the Leading Men and Young Guns, at least for another year in the showcase 10 km marathon swim in Barcelona next week.

The competitors in the men’s 10 km FINA World Championships include:

1. Kirill Abrosimov (RUSSIA)
2. Ventsislav Aydraski (BULGARIA)
3. Guillermo Vittorio Bertola (ARGENTINA)
4. Luis Bolanos (VENEZUELA)
5. Sergey Bolshakov (RUSSIA)
6. Christopher Bryan (IRELAND)
7. Jack Burnell (GREAT BRITAIN)
8. Martin Miguel Carrizo Yunges (ARGENTINA)
9. Damien Cattin-Vidal (FRANCE)
10. Igor Chervynskiy (UKRAINE)
11. Valerio Cleri (ITALY)
12. Mandar Anandrao Divase (INDIA)
13. Allan Do Carmo (BRAZIL)
14. Ivan Alejandro Enderica Ochoa (ECUADOR)
15. Santiago Paul Enderica Salgado (ECUADOR)
16. Daniel Fogg (GREAT BRITAIN)
17. Antonios Fokaidis (GREECE)
18. Vasco Gaspar (PORTUGAL)
19. Spyridon Gianniotis (GREECE)
20. Gergely Gyurta (HUNGARY)
21. Addul Hady (INDONESIA)
22. Eric Hedlin (CANADA)
23. Miguel Alejandro Hernandez Martinez (MEXICO)
24. Yasunari Hirai (JAPAN)
25. Chad Ho (SOUTH AFRICA)
26. Youssef Hossameldeen(EGYPT)
27. Simon Huitenga (AUSTRALIA)
28. Vitaliy Kuhdyakov (KAZAKHSTAN)
29. Yuto Kobayashi (JAPAN)
30. Ján Kútnik (CZECH REPUBLIC)
31. Arseniy Lavrentyev (PORTUGAL)
32. Chun Hong Li (HONG KONG)
33. Iván de Jesus López Ramos (MEXICO)
34. Thomas Lurz (GERMANY)
35. Rhys Mainstone-Hodson (AUSTRALIA)
36. Erwin Maldonado (VENEZUELA)
37. Oussama Mellouli (TUNISIA)
38. Manuel Meneses (GUATEMALA)
39. Alex Meyer (UNITED STATES)
40. Amine Zagrani Mohamed (TUNISIA)
41. Saleh Mohammad (SYRIA)
42. Francisco Montero (COSTA RICA)
43. Ching Leung Sunny Poon (HONG KONG)
44. Jan Pošmourný (CZECH REPUBLIC)
45. Hercules Troyden Prinsloo (SOUTH AFRICA)
46. Kane Radford (NEW ZEALAND)
47. Adel Ragab (EGYPT)
48. Christian Reichert (GERMANY)
49. Shahar Resman (ISRAEL)
50. Axel Reymond (FRANCE)
51. Miguel Angel Rozas Lopez (SPAIN)
52. Phillip Ryan (NEW ZEALAND)
53. Sean Ryan (UNITED STATES)
54. Brian Ryckeman (BELGIUM)
55. Yuval Safra (ISRAEL)
56.Rodolfo Sanchez (COSTA RICA)
57. Mario Sanzullo (ITALY)
58. Thomas Snelson Kilbride (SPAIN)
59. Igor Snitko (UKRAINE)
60. Vladimir Tolikin (KAZAKHSTAN)
61. Vicente Vidal Kubiersky (CHILE)
62. Diogo Villarinho (BRAZIL)
63. Ferry Weertman (NETHERLANDS)
64. Richard Weinberger (CANADA)
65. Zhang Zibin (CHINA)
66. Lijun Zu (CHINA)

Final race results, summary, and conclusion of the July 22nd championship are here.

Copyright © 2013 by Open Water Swimming