The 2025 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup shifts to Ibiza this weekend as the party keeps going towards the World Championships in July.
It’s the second stop of the 2025 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup and many of the world’s best are getting back in the swing of things as the northern summer is nearing, and the World Aquatics Championships are following in tow.
This weekend, the waters of Ibiza will host the party as Olympic champion Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary will make his World Cup debut for 2025 as he was not present at the first stop in Soma Bay.
The Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020, Florian Wellbrock, was the champ in Soma Bay and he will not be in Ibiza that weekend, as his pool qualification for Singapore 2025 is coming up. In his stead, Germany’s Oliver Klemet, the silver medalist from last summer’s Olympics, will be Rasovszky’s top challenger as the entire podium from Paris 2024 is going to be reuniting with Hungary’s David Betlehem also slated to race.
This weekend’s World Cup will also see the debut of the 3km knockout sprints, which have taken the place of the mixed relay on the schedule. The event made its debut at last summer’s World Juniors and was a big hit amongst the athletes and coaches - a bracket style event where all swimmers race 1500 meters, with the top ten from each heat advancing to the next round to race 1000 meters in two heats, before the final ten advance to race 500 meters. The winner at the end of the last 500m will be crowned the winner.
19-year-old Kaito Tsujimori won the inaugural tournament-style event at last year’s World Juniors, and the event is awaited with anticipation as the entire Paris podium as well as France’s Logan Fontaine and Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri.
Paltrinieri is one of the greatest distance freestyle swimmers of all-time in both the pool and in open water and this could bode well for him in this race as he looks to be an early favorite as the Olympic silver medalist from last year’s pool 1500m.
France has a competitive contingent led by the likes of Fontaine and former World champ Marc-Antoine Olivier as well as World Junior champ Sacha Velly. In the knockout 3k, Great Britain’s Hector Pardoe also looks to be a contender along with American Charlie Clark.
With any new event comes grand excitement, and the fans of open water swimming will be watching with intrigue to see how the seasoned veterans plan their approach to the new event.
The event is not cumulative - the winner of the 500m in the final round is the winner, so one must successfully conserve enough energy across the three swims to win. The semi-final will occur about 30 minutes after the start of the first heat, with the final following the same interval after the semi.
In the women’s races, Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci is the headliner as the Olympic bronze medalist will do battle with the likes of Spain’s Angela Martinez Guillen and Maria de Valdes in their home waters. Taddeucci is currently second in the overall rankings for the 10K after silver in Soma Bay behind the likes of Olympic silver medalist Moesha Johnson who will not be making the trip to Ibiza.
One of the greatest to ever do it, Ana Marcela Cunha, will also be on the start lists as she is winding down her career.
The knockout sprints certainly bring a lot of intrigue to the competition as it seems to favor those with the most speed if they can advance past the first two rounds. Look for athletes like Hungary’s Bettina Fabian and Brazil’s Viviane Jungblut to make some noise in this. Jungblut was a medalist at the 2023 Pan American Games in the 1500m and has a lot of speed.
Germany’s Celine Rieder will also be in the race and was the silver medalist at last year’s European Championships in the 1500m, while Hungary’s Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas will also be a wild card to win the event.
At last year’s World Juniors, it was the American Claire Weinstein who came out on top as the experienced pool swimmer bided her time well across the three swims and came out on top.
The women’s 10K race will start on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. local time, with the men’s race following at 12:00 p.m. The women’s 3k knockout will start Sunday at 9:00 a.m. local time with the semis beginning at 9:30 and the final at 10:00. The men’s event will start at 11:00 with the semis following at 11:30 and the final commencing at 12:00.