Olivia Smoliga & Becca Mann Among Winners At 2025 Chicago River Swim

On September 21, the Chicago River Swim took place for the first time in 98 years, thanks to improved water quality. The historic event hosted 263 swimmers across two distances and four divisions.

Participants could choose between 1-mile and 2-mile courses along the main stream, starting at Dearborn Street Bridge and ending at Clark Street Bridge. Swimmers had the option to compete with or without a wetsuit, with official results divided by both gender and suit type.

The swim supported two initiatives: ALS research at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and youth swim safety education programs. The organization plans to donate $100,000 to ALS research at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and $50,000 to fund swim lessons for about 2,000 youths at the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center.

A Long Swim, a Barrington-based organization, hosted the event’s return. Its founder, Doug McConnell, has spent more than a decade working to bring it back to fruition. An open water swimmer himself, McConnell has completed swims across the English Channel, around Manhattan Island, and through the Catalina and Molokai Channels. Originally, McConnell and his team desired to host the swim in 2024, but were forced to move the inaugural event to Lake Michigan.

“This is a celebration,” McConnell told the Chicago Sun Times before the event commenced. “The city has done such a remarkable job over the generations to make sure that this water is swimmable, that the recreation opportunities are what they are.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke minutes before racing kicked off, stating, “The Chicago River Swim is a symbol of Chicago’s resilience and progress. Once too polluted for recreation, the river has been restored as one of our city’s greatest assets. Today shows how far we’ve come in reclaiming our environment for future generations.”

See how the course layout looked below.

Photo Courtesy: Chicago River Swim

Chicago-area native Olivia Smoliga, a Rio 2016 gold medalist and Tokyo 2020 bronze medalist, claimed gold in the women’s one-mile non-wetsuit race, touching in 22:45 for a 15-second victory. Princeton graduate Levy Nathan topped the men’s one-mile non-wetsuit field with a winning time of 22:22, securing a 32-second margin of victory.

“I think it definitely will change the way that people see the river,” Smoliga told Block Club Chicago post-race regarding the water quality. “Truthfully, whenever we’d do a boat tour — hey, I’m ready to jump in it. I want to jump in, always, so the fact that I was able to do it and Chicago cleaned it up, it’s so nice.”

In the two-mile events, longtime U.S. National team member Becca Mann secured the women’s title in 40:07, dominating the field by nearly five minutes. Wheaton junior Isaac Eilmes edged the men’s competition in 40:13 with a narrow seven-second victory.

“Water was beautiful, very clear,” Mann told the Chicago Sun Times. “Every time I breathed, I could see the city around me.”

In the wetsuit division, 41-year-old Jessica Achtstatter won the women’s one-mile in 23:57, finishing more than seven minutes ahead of her nearest competitor. 25-year-old Liz Spears, who swam at ASU, won the women’s two-mile title by six seconds.

On the men’s wetsuit side, 41-year-old Joe Higgins dominated the one-mile in 23:12 with a 44-second victory margin, while 39-year-old William Sindewald took the two-mile race in 48:27, winning by approximately five minutes.

See the top 10 finishers for each race below.

Female Divisions

1-Mile (No Wetsuit):

1. Olivia Smoliga, 30 – 22:45
2. Marguerite Larson, 21 – 23:00
3. Elizabeth Dillmann, 60 – 23:03
4. Bizzy Vega, 47 – 23:27
5. Kara Grace Hess, 21 – 23:34
6. Sydney Doctor, 45 – 26:02
7. Melodee Liegl, 58 – 26:22
8. Cathleen Cantoni, 30 – 26:47
9. Sarah Law, 27 – 27:06
10. Andrea Auer, 52 – 28:00

1-Mile (Wetsuit):

1. Jessica Achtstatter, 41 – 23:57
2. Suzanne Beall, 48 – 30:58
3. Caroline Briggs, 29 – 31:08
4. Wendy van Curen, 58 – 31:28
5. Kristin Solomon, 45 – 32:14
6. Nancy Picard, 59 – 33:16
7. Lindsey Engelbert, 39 – 33:49
8. Amanda Moswin, 43 – 34:06
9. Elizabeth Loya, 53 – 34:14
10. Sara Goerge, 48 – 34:51

2-Mile (No Wetsuit):

1. Becca Mann, 27 – 40:07
2. Mg King, 20 – 44:57
3. Kayli Christensen, 40 – 49:57
4. Lauren Deangelis, 27 – 50:05
5. Francine Klotz, 48 – 52:29
6. Keira Wilson, 25 – 52:43
7. Alex Araya, 32 – 54:55
8. Marian Cardwell, 36 – 54:57
9. Keri Golembeski, 32 – 55:03
10. Ellen Drake, 32 – 57:04

2-Mile (Wetsuit): 

1. Liz Spears, 25 – 46:37
2. Eve Young, 49 – 46:43
3. Erin Randall, 44 – 52:57
4. Karen Grabowski, 49 – 54:48
5. Kathy Szatkowski, 52 – 57:22
6. Faith Obrien, 22 – 1:03:47
7. Jennifer Goldberg, 60 – 1:10:35
8. Kathleen Fritz, 59 – 1:26:23

Only 8 competitors in this division.

Male Divisions

1-Mile (No Wetsuit):

1. Levy Nathan, 26 – 22:22
2. Ryan Goble, 49 – 22:54
3. Noah Zamler, 31 – 23:36
4. James Meyer, 48 – 24:33
5. Daniel Cepeda, 29 – 24:53
6. Diego Darquea C., 53 – 27:01
7. Shaun Mckay, 48 – 28:03
8. Frank Dyer, 33 – 28:07
9. Timothy Greenwell, 23 – 28:56
10. Alexander Schroeder, 65 – 29:04

1-Mile (Wetsuit): 

1. Joe Higgins, 41 – 23:12
2. Connor Wudrick, 31 – 23:56
3. Parker Nolan, 22 – 24:05
4. Michael Ma, 26 – 26:18
5. Richard Depew, 65 – 26:19
6. Glenn Mills, 63 – 26:53
7. Carson Potts, 26 – 27:14
8. Alex O’Neill, 26 – 29:35
9. Matthew Heffernan, 26 – 29:38
10. Noah Anderson, 24 – 30:26

2-Mile (No Wetsuit):

1. Isaac Eilmes, 21 – 40:13
2. Luke Maurer, 24 – 40:20
3. Hugh Bowman, 40 – 46:49
4. Brad Culp, 40 – 46:52
5. Casey Ketterling, 48 – 47:59
6. Chad Scott, 51 – 49:21
7. Andy Walberer, 53 – 49:23
8. Gregg Ogorzelec, 59 – 49:29
9. Robert Vear, 63 – 49:44
10. Steve Stroker, 66 – 49:47

2-Mile (Wetsuit):

1. William Sindewald, 39 – 48:27
2. Jason Luzinski, 33 – 53:28
3. Jim Mcmahon, 61 – 54:32
4. Eric Scheiner, 55 – 55:51
5. Doug Kasner, 58 – 57:15
6. Joaquin Gonzalez, 48 – 57:44
7. Stephen Cruise, 62 – 58:18
8. Robert Parks, 30 – 58:32
9. Patrick Connor, 67 – 59:35
10. Scott Guilfoil, 75 – 1:00:52

Olivia Smoliga Pre-Race Interview