The 2016 series of FINA’s main open water swimming circuit debuts this weekend, on Sunday February 7, in Patagones-Viedma, Argentina.
For the inaugural leg, 38 men and 25 women from 17* different nations will take the plunge.
Among the announced participants, some big names of the world of open water: last year's overall winner Rachele Bruni (ITA), 2015 overall winner in the men's field Christian Reichert (GER), but also Axel Reymond (GER), Diogo Villarinho (BRA) and Chip Peterson (USA) among others.
In parallel of this event, a mass participation race will be organised on Saturday February 6. More information can be found here.
The competition calendar includes seven meets, stretching from February to October and stopping in South and North America, Europe and Asia. The total prize money for the men’s and women’s Series overall winners is of USD 180’000.
*Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Brazil, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, USA, Venezuela
The full calendar of the FINA/HOSA 10km MSWC 2016 is as follows:
Patagones-Viedma (ARG) – February 7, 2016
Abu Dhabi (UAE) – February 26, 2016
Balatonfured (HUN) – June 18, 2016
Lac St-Jean (CAN) – July 28, 2016
Lac Megantic (CAN) – August 13, 2016
Chun’An (CHN) – October 9, 2016
Honk Kong (HKG) – October 15, 2016
2015 overall rankings:
MEN
1. Christian Reichert (GER) 103 pts
2. Alan Do Carmo (BRA) 94 pts
3. Rhys Mainstone (AUS) 68 pts
WOMEN
1. Rachele Bruni (ITA) 112 pts
2. Anna Olasz (HUN) 77 pts
3. Isabelle Harle (GER) 57 pts