COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Led by a seasoned group of international competitors, including two 2012 Olympians, eight swimmers will represent Team USA in the open water portion of the 2015 FINA World Championships, which open Saturday in Kazan, Russia.
The July 25-Aug. 1 open water competition includes 5-, 10- and 25-kilometer individual events, as well as a 5K team event at Kazan’s Kazanka River Venue. Highlighting the competition will be the 10K events, which serve as direct individual qualifiers for next summer’s Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games for the top 10 men’s and women’s finishers.
Five of the team’s eight members competed for the U.S. at the 2013 FINA World Championships.
For the women, 2012 Olympic silver medalist and 2013 5K world champion Haley Anderson (Granite Bay, Calif.) will swim the 5K and 10K events, and Emily Brunemann (Crescent Springs, Ky.) will swim the 25K. Becca Mann (Homer Glen, Ill.) will compete in the 10K event, and Ashley Twichell (Fayetteville, N.Y.), whose last appearance at the FINA World Championships was in 2011, where she won gold in the 5K team pursuit and bronze in the 5K, will swim the 5K and 25K events.
On the men’s side, David Heron (Mission Viejo, Calif.), coming off a silver medal in the 10K at the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, and 2012 Olympian Alex Meyer (Ithaca, N.Y.) will both swim the 5K and 25K distances. Sean Ryan (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif.) will compete in the 10K.
The team was selected based on their performances at the 2015 USA Swimming Open Water National Championships held at Miromar Lakes Beach & Golf Club in Florida on April 24 and 26. Anderson and Meyer won the 5K events, and Wilimovsky and Mann were victorious in the 10K.
The 5K race will take place Saturday with starts of 10 a.m. locally for the women and 1 p.m. for the men. The 10K competitions begin at noon Monday and Tuesday for the men and women, respectively.
The 5K team pursuit takes place Thursday, July 30 at noon. The open water competition concludes with the 25k race on Saturday, August 1 and will begin at 8 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. for the men and women, respectively. All start times are Moscow Standard Time.
Following the open water action, pool competition at the FINA World Championships is set for Aug.2-9. Complete championships information is available online at kazan2015.com.
Swimming news courtesy of USA Swimming.
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