First race in FINA UltraMarathon 2018
The FINA UltraMarathon Swim Series 2018, formerly known as the FINA Open Water Grand Prix, kicks off this weekend in Coronda Santa Fe, Argentina. The men’s and women’s elite 57km race will take place on Sunday in the river El Rio.
26 long distance swimmers, 15 men and 11 women, are set to compete in the race in a river and area of Argentina that has a rich history of marathon swimming. Aside from a six-year gap in the eighties, the Maratón Acuática Internacional Santa Fe-Coronda race has run since 1961.
Argentina’s Damian Blaum and Guillermo Bertola will be vying for gold in home waters, while Eugenij Pop Acev of Macedonia will be looking to repeat his circuit success of last year, in which he came joint first with Bertola.
In the women’s race, Italy’s Barbara Pozzobon and Alice Franco are among the favourites. Argentina’s Cecilia Biagioli and Pilar Geijo are also on the start list.
After Coronda Santa Fe, the next stop on the UltraMarathon will be Lac St Jean in Canada on 28 July 28.
For more on Argentina’s rich history of marathon river swimming, see the February issue of Outdoor Swimmer.
Start list image courtesy of FINA
Jonathan Cowie
Jonathan is a year-round skins swimmer with a particular love of very cold water. He has competed in ice swimming competitions around the world. He is a qualified open water coach with a particular love of introducing new swimmers to the open water.
