World Aquatics Announces 2025 Open Water Swimming World Cup Schedule

World Aquatics has announced four of the five stops for its 2025 Open Water Swimming World Cup, marking the 19th edition of the series.

2025 Competition Calendar

  • Stop 1: Somabay, Egypt – February 21-22
  • Stop 2: Ibiza, Spain – April 25-26
  • Stop 3: Setubal, Portugal – June 14-15
  • Stop 4: Golfo Aranci, Italy – October 10-11
  • Stop 5: TBD

The series begins in February at Soma Bay, Egypt, which successfully hosted the Open Water Swimming World Cup in 2023 and the season opener in 2024. The tour then moves to Ibiza, Spain, marking the country’s first time hosting a World Aquatics event since the 2013 World Aquatics Championships. This is also the first Open Water Swimming World Cup in Spain since Sevilla played host in 2007.

In June, the competition returns to Setúbal, Portugal, a city renowned for its challenging Atlantic conditions and a staple on the World Cup circuit, having hosted 15 times since 2007. Setúbal has also been the site for Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifiers in 2012, 2016, and 2021. The fourth stop in October takes place in Golfo Aranci, Italy, a picturesque coastal village on Sardinia’s eastern coast, which has been a favorite among athletes since its debut in 2023.

The fifth and final stop of the season has yet to be announced.

The 2024 season set a high standard for competition, with standout performances from reigning champions Ana Marcela Cunha and Marc-Antoine Olivier. Cunha, a seven-time world champion, secured her seventh Women’s Overall World Cup title, cementing her legacy as one of open water swimming’s greatest athletes. After winning the title, she hinted that she may be retiring before next year’s series.

Olivier earned the Men’s Overall crown for the first time, calling it a moment of redemption after his seventh-place finish at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Olivier also claimed the Men’s Sprint title, awarded to the overall leader in sprint points within the 10km race. Ginevra Taddeucci took home the Women’s Sprint title, adding to her bronze medal from Paris 2024.

Brazil’s rising stars also shone in the junior ranks, with Lizian Sobral and Matheus Melecchi claiming the Women’s and Men’s Junior titles, respectively. 

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BillybobJo
1 month ago

Make a stop in the U.S please!
As Americans we have no easy access outlet for open water besides US nationals 1x a year. Having a stop in the U.S would help bring attention to the sport of open water besides the regular 3-4x Americans that compete on a regular basis.

Admin
Reply to  BillybobJo
1 month ago

We keep having these “chicken vs. egg” conversations in swimming.

USA Swimming doesn’t want to pay the hosting fee, and American swimmers very rarely participate. Would be a pretty big risk to take the tour to the U.S. and not have anybody race. So who’s job is it: World Aquatics to host races here and hope that will encourage more Americans to participate, or American swimmers’ to show a commitment to the tour?

Most of the regular participants are in Europe, so having the tour hosted centrally to them makes a lot of sense to me.

SHRKB8
1 month ago

Goodness me, I wouldn’t make it to stop 3 in this series. Could find me still talking it up at some bar in Ibiza a month after that race 😆😎

Aquatics
1 month ago

Hopefully USA Swimming will actually send the OW SR National Team members to these. Would also be nice to see them field a relay every time one is offered. Not holding my breath, but would be nice to see USA Swimming actually truly support Open Water and Open Water swimmers opposed to their fixation on pool opportunities and pool swimmers for OW.