Open water swimming returns to action in Egypt after the winter hiatus, with action starting with the Men’s 10km event at 10:00am [local time]. The Women’s 10km will follow at 1:00pm local time, before the team relay event on the final day. Five swimmers featuring in this weekend’s action spoke to us about how they’re feeling ahead of the event.

Marc-Antoine Olivier - France

The Olympic bronze medallist fought his way to a podium position in this event last year, winning bronze behind countrymate Logan Fontaine and gold-medal winner, Florian Wellbrock. The Frenchman, who recently became a father for the first time, is feeling refreshed and ready to race following a prolonged break at the end of last season.

On balancing family life:

“Now, I have a new life with my baby, so I manage this with my wife and organise everything, and try to do my best for training and now for competition.

“I need to find this balance. Now it's a little bit better, but sometimes it's difficult because she wakes up a lot of times during the night. Now we’re trying to manage training too with my coach.”

On taking a break after last season:

“I stopped [training] for two and a half months from October to December. Last season was very hard for me with a lot of events. So, I needed to recover for my body and my mind. The Olympic season is four years, so I need to take time for what is best for me.

“In January, I went to altitude with the French team. And I began not feeling strong, but with a specific program. And now I need to see what happens in the race. I'm excited to see what I can do and try to get another medal.”

On how he’s feeling:

“I am very excited because it's the first World Cup of the season.

“It's open water - we need to adapt everything. So, I think we will have the same conditions this year for the World Cup. [It will be] a little bit windy, so now I need to manage and find a good strategy, I hope to win a medal tomorrow.”

Caroline Jouisse - France

French open water veteran Jouisse is feeling ‘excited and nervous’ ahead of Somabay; an event where she previously won gold in the 4x1500m Mixed Relay with Team France.

As an athlete who favours choppy, cooler waters, the conditions in Somabay may play to her strengths. Jouisse had a fantastic World Cup run in 2025 (four medals), but says she’s viewing this season as a blank slate.

On targets for Somabay:

“Well, I’m excited and nervous. I'm really happy to be back, Somabay has always been a great place. It's always a bit tricky because it's the first one of the year, so we never really know where we are. But I'm looking forward to it.

“I try to start from scratch every year. I know Somabay is probably my worst result because it's the first race. But I'll try to make it better this year - I really want to do something great. I did amazing in Sardinia and Portugal last year, so I want to keep that way and try to start off really good.”

On the conditions:

“I like a little bit of a wave. It’s not a regular course because we don't do a rectangle like we usually do, but we are used to it here - it's going to be fun."

Angela Martinez Guillen - Spain

22-year-old Guillen made her mark on the World Cup in 2025 when she won gold in front of a home crowd in Ibiza. A consistent performer across the entire season, the Spaniard finished 5th in Somabay last year, and is hoping to better that this year.

On how she’s feeling pre-event:

“It's exciting to come here again to Somabay. I like this place, the water, the temperature is fantastic, so I'm very excited for the first stop. I think it's the best conditions for swimming."

On her 5th place finish last year:

“For me, it's a motivation and I think I can do very good. [I feel] a little bit nervous because the best are here, so it's so important to do well, but I’m excited. I always do a progressive race, so maybe the last lap will be the best for me.”

David Betlehem - Hungary

Coming off the back of a big training block, Olympic bronze medallist Betlehem might be racing somewhat tired this weekend - but that doesn’t deter him from eyeing up a spot on the podium.

On how he’s feeling:

“I'm excited. I did a lot of training in the past few weeks, so it's not easy. We are a bit tired, but it's always fun to race with the best in the world.

“I was a bit sick last week, but I always like to remind myself what I did last year. And I was just enjoying it, so I wasn't putting too much pressure on myself.

“I want to do the same thing because it’s important to not put too much pressure on myself, so I just want to have fun and just show my best performance and my best myself. Hopefully that's going to be enough for the podium.”

On his race tactics:

“It's not an easy race, it's a pretty choppy race. But the water temperature is pretty okay, it's 22/23 degrees, so I'm happy about it.

“The Olympics is going to be similar to this, much colder water, but it's going to be choppy as well. So, if I can be fit in this race, in these conditions, it's pretty good. I want to win a medal, so we're going to see tomorrow.”

Zeina Ahmed Medhat - Egypt

18-year-old Egyptian, Zeina Ahmed Medhat, will be amongst those on the startline of the Women’s 10km tomorrow, and spoke to us about how it feels to race on home soil.

 “But it's so special, especially [as] these are all my friends. And we’ve raced before together, and we're a team of course.”

Despite her nerves, Medhat has her eyes set on a top 20 finish in the 10km event. The teenager previously finished 23rd in the 2024 edition of the event at the age of 15, meaning a top 20 result will mark her best to date. She will also be competing in the 4x1500m Mixed Relay as part of Team Egypt, one of seven nations taking part.

To read the event preview, click here. For details of where to watch the action live, click here.