The first stop of the 2026 Open Water Swimming World in Somabay, Egypt, largely stuck to script. The sport’s top 2025 performers, Moesha Johnson and Florian Wellbrock, dominated competition.
Johnson utterly dominated the women’s race, finishing ahead of runner-up Ginevra Taddeucci 48 seconds. Johnson’s final time registered at 1:58:26.10. The Aussie, who was the 2025 Open Water Female Swammy winner, strategically did not feed after her first of three laps to help establish a comfortable lead. This decision helped put distance between herself and Germany’s Lea Boy, the eventual bronze medalist, who took a gutsy lead across the first part of the race. Both Taddeucci and Boy were both strong performers in the 2025 World Cup circuit, with Taddeucci taking the overall Cup title.
Johnson’s training partner and fellow 2025 World Champion Florian Wellbrock emerged as the victor of the men’s race. This weekend, Wellbrock adopted the strategy of going after the first sprint lap and holding on. The move worked well for the 28-year-old German national, as he stayed in first place and brought the field along for a rather fast race. He touched the finish line in a time of 1:50:59.5. Hungarian ace David Betlehem reaped the silver medal, touching about five-and-a-half seconds behind the winner to retain his world #1 position. Rounding out the podium was Italian veteran Domenico Acrenza, notching his first medal in two years.
After his silver medal performance, Betlehem said the competition felt “stronger than the Olympics or World Championships,” adding that all of the top names were there. Some of the other names to place were Marc-Antoine Olivier (4th), Gregorio Paltrinieri (7th), and Kristof Rasovszky (14th). Italy’s uber-deep squad took six of the top ten men’s placements.
Despite Italy’s depth, they did not land on the podium in the 4×1500 mixed relay. Wellbrock and Boy joined forces with compatriots Oliver Klemet and Leonie Märtens to bring Germany home the team event. Hungary’s foursome of Betlehem, Bettina Fabian, and youngsters Hunor Kovac-Seres and Napsugar Nagy earned runner-up. Spain rounded out the podium, notably leading the women’s portion of the race by over 20 seconds, courtesy of Angela Martinez and Maria de Valdes.
The stop marked yet another mark of success for Bernd Berkhahn‘s star-studded training group based of Magdeburg. The coach boasted winners in all three events. According to World Aquatics, at least some of his athletes, including Wellbrock, had just come down from altitude training.
See the full results of the stop here.
We will be treated to more open water action next week with the U.S. Open Water Nationals in Florida. The next World Cup stop is set to kick off in the Spanish island of Ibiza on April 24.
Insane just how dominant Flo and Moe are in Openwater right now, they are certainly the benchmark for all up and coming and aspiring Openwater athletes. I really enjoyed watching all races but particularly Betlehem battle Wellbrock in the final leg of the relay, it was a Battle Royale with neither giving an inch for all but the final touch.
Difficult for Italy to medal in 4 x 1500 mixed relay without a team entered. (Missing a second female I think, they had a plethora of male talent to choose from)