Other than the Olympics themselves, it is said (in America) that the USA Olympic Swimming Team Trials and the NCAA Swimming Championships are the most competitive swim meets in the world.

Without a doubt, these events are some of the most exciting and breathtaking swimming competitions in the world, always with more than a few upsets and swims where unexpected athletes swim out of their minds.

The equivalent in the open water world is next month’s final Olympic marathon swim qualifier in Setubal Bay in Portugal.

The following 56 men from 34 countries are entered and ready to battle for the final 15 positions in the Olympic marathon swim in London. No lanes, no lines, no walls…no mercy. 56 men aiming for 15 spots. While there are some obviously strong swimmers who are favored to qualify and who will certainly be in the top pack, there are also very interesting and competitive races-within-the-race among swimmers from the same country.

Because only one swimmer from each country can qualify in this race, the competition between 2008 Olympian Damian Blaum and Argentine teammate Luciano Sales Rubio, between 2008 Olympian Allan Do Carmo and Brazilian teammate Lucas Kanieski, between Czech Olympians Rostislav Vítek and Jan Pošmourný, between Ecuadorean teammates Santiago Enderica Salgado and Ivan Enderica Ochoa, between Egyptian teammates Mazen Aziz and Ahmed Gad, between British Olympians David Davies and Daniel Fogg, between Italian teammates Nicola Bolzonello and Valerio Cleri, between Mexican teammates Ivan De Jesus Lopez Ramos and Luis Ricardo Escobar Torres, between South African teammates Troyden Prinsloo and Chad Ho, and between Ukraine teammates Igor Snitko and Igor Chervynskiy will be fierce and strategic. Not only must these swimmers secure their place in the top 15, but they must also beat their fellow countryman en route to qualifying for the Olympics.

But swimmers like Ous Mellouli of Tunisia, Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria, Richard Weinberger of Canada, Saleh Mohammad of Syria, Yuriy Kudinov of Kazakhstan, Kane Radford of New Zealand, Chris Bryan of Ireland and Sergiy Fesenko of Azerbaijan are among the favorites to qualify in the top 15.

Damian Blaum and Luciano Sales Rubio (ARG)
Matthias Schweinzer (AUT)
Sergiy Fesenko (AZE)
Allan Do Carmo and Lucas Kanieski (BRA)
Petar Stoychev (shown above) and Ventsislav Aydarski (BUL)
Richard Weinberger and Francois Xavier Desharnais (CAN)
Lijun Zu and Yuanpeng Lang (CHN)
Kurt Niehaus (CRC)
Tomislav Soldo and Josip Culina (CRO)
Iacovos Hadjiconstantinou (CYP)
Rostislav Vítek and Jan Pošmourný (CZE)
Santiago Enderica Salgado and Ivan Enderica Ochoa (ECU)
Mazen Aziz and Ahmed Gad (EGY)
David Davies and Daniel Fogg (GBR)