Open Water World Championships begin Saturday with Olympic spots up for grabs

Though the pool swimming portion of the 2015 FINA World Aquatics Championships is still more than a week away, the Championships will officially open tomorrow with diving events. The first swimming event will follow shortly after, with the Open Water races starting Saturday.

This year’s World Championships in Open Water are especially interesting, because not only are gold medals on the line, but Olympic berths as well.

The featured 10K race in Kazan will serve as the first of two qualifying races for the 2012 Rio Olympic Games, and will be the only opportunity for a nation to earn two Olympic qualifiers of the same gender.

First, a quick look at the Olympic qualifying procedures in open water:

Open Water Rio 2016 Olympic Qualifying

Qualifying for the 2016 Olympic marathon swimming events happens in one of two races: the 2015 World Championship 10K and the 2016 Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier.

Step 1: The top 10 men and top 10 women at the 2015 World Championships in the 10K will earn an Olympic qualifying spot.

• Each nation can only qualify a maximum of two swimmers in each gender

Step 2: Any nation that didn’t have anyone qualify through step 1 can send up to two men and two women to the 2016 Olympic Marathon Swimming Qualifier. The top 9 men and top 9 women at that race can also earn Olympic bids.

• Each nation may only qualify up to one man and one woman for the Olympics this way

There are extra qualification procedures that ensure that each of the five continents has a representative, and that the host nation (in this case, Brazil) gets at least one representative in each race. You can read FINA’s full qualifying procedures here.

What it means for 2015 Worlds

What that complex process means for the here-and-now is that a nation will have to put both of its entrants in the top 10 at Worlds in order to earn the maximum 2 Olympic spots. If only one swimmer finishes in the top 10, that nation only gets the one Olympic bid. And if no swimmers finish in the top 10, then the nation has to go through the secondary qualifying meet next summer, with only one Olympic bid up for grabs.

That should make next week’s open water 10K an extremely exciting race with plenty at stake. Upwards of 40 nations have entered athletes, with 73 men and 57 women set to race in the 10Ks. Among the big names in both genders:

Men:

• 2012 Olympic champ Ous Mellouli of Tunisia
• 2013 10K World Champ Spyridon Gianniotis of Greece
• 2014 European 10K Champ Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands
• 2013 5K Worlds silver medalist Eric Hedlin of Canada
• 2013 25K Worlds silver medalist Brian Ryckeman of the Belgium
• 2014 Pan Pacs bronze medalist Kane Radford of New Zealand
• 2014 European 5K gold medalist Daniel Fogg of Great Britain
• 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Richard Weinberg of Canada
• 2014 FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup champ Allan do Carmo of Brazil
• 2015 FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup leader Jack Burnell of Great Britain

Full men’s 10K start list here

Gianniotis is officially the defending champ, although Mellouli won a pair of medals in 2013 and still has the London Olympic gold to his name.

A few big names will be missing from this race, most notably Thomas Lurz, who is arguably the best open water swimmer of the past decade. The German retired back in May. Lurz medaled in all three races at the 2013 World Championships, took two medals at last year’s European Championships, and was the Olympic silver medalist behind Mellouli in 2012.

Also absent is 2012 U.S. Olympian Alex Meyer, who missed the U.S. qualifying spot by .006 seconds at U.S. Nationals earlier this year. Meyer will swim the 5K and the 25K in Kazan instead.

Women:

• 2012 Olympic gold medalist Eva Risztov of Hungary
• 2013 World Champ Poliana Okimoto of Brazil
• 2012 Olympic silver medalist/2014 Pan Pacs champ Haley Anderson of the USA
• 2013 European 10K champ Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands
• 2013 Worlds 10K silver medalist Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil
• 2013 Worlds 10K bronze medalist Angela Maurer of Germany
• 2014 Pan Pacs bronze medalist Chelsea Gubecka of Australia
• 2014 European 5K champ Isabelle Harle of Germany
• 2014 European 10K bronze medalist Aurora Ponsele of Italy
• 2014 European 25K silver medalist Anna Olasz of Hungary
• 2015 FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup leader Rachelle Bruni of Italy

Full women’s 10K start list here

Brazil should be in great shape to earn two Olympic bids for their home Olympic Games, with the gold and silver medalists from 2013 Worlds returning. Okimoto won that event, and her teammate Cunha took silver and went on to win FINA’s Marathon Swimming World Cup by a landslide in 2014.

Keep an eye on American Haley Anderson, who won Pan Pacs last summer and just signed an endorsement deal with Arena. She’s joined by youngster Becca Mann, a rising high school senior who won the U.S. National title over Anderson a few months ago.

Hungary’s got a great duo with Olympic champ Risztov and the younger Olasz, who took a European champs silver medal last summer.

A few notable absences: Olympic bronze medalist Martina Grimaldi will not contest the 10K for Italy. Grimaldi changed coaches earlier this year and will only contest the 5K in Kazan. She was also the 25K gold medalist at Worlds in 2013 and Euros in 2014.

American Eva Fabian is another big name to miss the cut. She earned a 25K bronze at the 2013 Worlds and was the runner-up in an American 1-2 at last summer’s Pan Pacs. But Fabian competed at Pan Ams this summer instead of Worlds, and wound up winning the 10K in Toronto in a photo finish.

Schedule

Saturday, July 25th

• Women’s 5K
• Men’s 5K

Monday, July 27th

• Men’s 10K (Olympic qualifier)

Tuesday, July 28th

• Women’s 10K (Olympic qualifier)

Thursday, July 30th

• Team 5K

Saturday, August 1st

• Men’s 25K
• Women’s 25K

You can find a more detailed schedule, race times and full start lists on the Kazan 2015 site here.