The Best Open Water Swimmers of the 2010's
Any list of the Best Open Water Swimmers of the Decade is, by necessity, subjective. But it is certainly fun to discuss and debate among open water swimming historians and fans. Below are our choices for the Best Open Water Swimmers of the 2010's.
This selection of the Best Open Water Swimmers of the 2010's is based on four criteria with the following priority:
1. Champions - or swimmers who won major international races against the best swimmers of their era
2. Pioneers - or swimmers who completed unprecedented extreme swims of any distance in any location
3. Record Holders - or swimmers who set records across channels, lakes, seas, either in competition or on a solo swim
4. Endurers - or swimmers who swam for distance in any open body of water at various temperatures
That is, if a Champion is compared to a Pioneer, with all other things being equal, the Champion was given more weight in this subjective list. Similarly, if a Pioneer is compared to a Record Holder, with all other things being equal, the Pioneer is given placed higher in this subjective list. If a Record Holder is compared to an Endurer, with all things being equal, the Record Holder iss considered slightly higher than the Endurer in this subjective list.
Of course, if this subjective criteria were ordered differently (e.g., if Record Holders or Endurers carried more weight than Champions or Pioneers), then the ordering would undoubtedly be different - and so would many of the listed swimmers. This is, some would rise in the list and others would fall or be replaced.
That being said, many swimmers on this list of the 2010's proved themselves over their careers as a Champion, a Pioneer, a Record Holder, and an Endurer. Additionally, many swimmers competed in more than one decade. Because there are so many worthy candidates, each swimmer was honored in only one decade, that decade of their prime performances.
This list only includes solo and competitive swimmers. It includes swimmers - of both genders and of any age - who specialize in channel swimming, marathon swimming, extreme swimming, stage swimming, high-altitude swimming, ice swimming, and winter swimming in lakes, bays, rivers, oceans, seas, reservoirs, lochs, fjords, canals, and carved-out pool in frozen bodies of water. This list does not include pilots, coaches, authors, race directors, documentary filmmakers, seconds, crew members, or administrators. These individuals will be included in a follow-up series, The Best Open Water Swimming Personalities of the Decade, that will be subsequently published.
Best Open Water Swimmers of the 2010's
1. Petar Stoychev, Bulgaria [shown above]
2. Ana Marcela Cunha
3. Sarah Thomas, Brazil
4. Jaimie Monahan, USA
5. Sharon van Rouwendaal, Netherlands
6. Ferry Weertman, Netherlands
7. Éva Risztov, Hungary
8. Ram Barkai, South Africa
9. Henri Kaarma, Estonia
10. Chloë McCardel, Australia
Others include Ous Mellouli, Tunisia, Trent Grimsey, Australia, Spiros Gianniotis, Greece, Martina Grimaldi, Italy, Pilar Geijo, Argentina, Poliana Okimoto, Brazil, Aleksandr Brylin, Russia, Andrey Sychev, Russia, Elizabeth Fry, USA, Stephen Redmond, Ireland, Jacques Tuset, France
Petar Stoychev (Bulgarian: Петър Стойчев) was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2008, the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2018, and the Ice Swimming Hall of Fame in 2020. He is King of the Ice of the International Ice Swimming Association. He won both the Traversée Internationale du lac St-Jean and the Traversée Internationale du lac Memphrémagog 11 times and was the first person to break 7 hours across the English Channel. He won the 25 km race at the 2011 FINA World Championships in China and was the winner of the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit for 11 straight years. He set the Ice Kilometer world record and won the Antarctica Ice Kilometer Swim in -1.4°C water and completed an Ice Kilometer in -1°C water and -10.0°C air in Norway.
Ana de Jesus Soares da Cunha was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2019. She won the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and was the FINA Female Open Water Swimmer of the Year in 2010, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021. She won the FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014. She won the FINA UltraMarathon Swim Series in 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2018. She won 13 medals at the FINA World Championships in the 5 km, 10 km and 25 km races.
Sarah Thomas was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2018. She pioneered a 134 km English Channel four-way crossing in 54 hours 10 minutes in 2019. She completed an Ice Mile in 4.57°C water and -1.10°C air in 2015. She pioneered two-way crossings of Lake Tahoe in 2013 in 22 hours and across Lake Memphremagog in Vermont in 30 hours, the Triple Crown of Lake Monster Swims. She completed 128.7 km crossing of Lake Powell in 2016 in 56 hours. She won the 2015 58 km END-WET down the Red River of the North in North Dakota. She pioneered a 168.3 km swim in Lake Champlain in 67 hours 16 minutes.
Jaimie Monahan is an Ice Ironwoman and became the first person to achieve the Ice Sevens Challenge. She was inducted of the International Marathon Swimming in 2018 and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame in 2019. She is the Queen of Manhattan Island with 29 circumnavigation swims. She was the first female Ice Zero Swimmer of the International Ice Swimming Association. She completed a 69 km swim across Lake Geneva in 28 hours 36 minutes and completed a 7.5 km swim in Lake Titicaca in 2016.
Sharon van Rouwendaal was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame in 2022. She won the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim at the 2016 Rio Olympics and a silver in the 10 km and 5 km relay at the 2015 FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia. She won silver in the 25 km at the 2017 FINA World Championships She was named Swimming World Magazine's Open Water Swimmer of the Year in 2014 and 2016.
Ferry Weertman won the 2016 Olympic 10K Marathon Swim at the 2016 Rio Olympics He won the 15 km FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix in 2014 and silvers in the 2015 FINA World Championships 10 km and 5 km team pursuit. He won the gold in the 10 km at the 2017 FINA World Championships.
Éva Risztov won the 2012 London Olympic 10K Marathon Swim and competed on the FINA World Cup series.
Ram Barkai created the International Ice Swimming Association and was inducted in the Ice Swimming Hall of Fame in 2019, completing 12 Ice Kilometers and 12 Ice Miles and was the first to complete a Zero Ice Mile. He completed swims in the Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, Robben Island, Cape Point, Bering Strait, Lake Baikal, Iceland, Antarctica, and Norway. He organized and swam the Patagonia Extreme Cold Water Challenge: 4 km in the Beagle Channel, a 2.5 km double crossing of the Strait of Magellan in 8°C water, and 2.5 km swim around Cape Horn. He swam 1 km in 0.2°C water in Norway's Folgefonna Glacier in 2012 and did an Ice Kilometer in Siberia in 0°C water. He organized the inaugural International Ice Swimming Championship and participated in the Bering Strait Crossing.
Henri Kaarma was inducted in the Ice Swimming Hall of Fame in 2019 and is an Ice Zero Swimmer. He is the event director of the Estonian Ice Swimming Championships. He swam on the 6-day Bering Strait Swim relay and set a record in swimming 2,400 meters at 0.8ºC in 2014 in Russia. He completed an Ice Mile in 0.30°C water and -33.00°C air in 2012. He finished third in the Ice Kilometer at the 2015 Ice Swimming World Championship.
Chloë McCardel was inducted in the Ice Swimming Hall of Fame and swam 124 km in 41 hours 21 minutes in the Bahamas. She has completed 44 English Channel crossings as the Queen of the Channel. She won the 2010 Manhattan Island Marathon Swim.
Ned Denison, chairperson of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, cautioned, "Most of these swimmers are honorees of the IMSHOF. Once inducted, the IMSHOF does not further 'rank' its inductees."
By Steven Munatones.
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and Editor of the KAATSU Magazine. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), Dale Petranech Award for Services to the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (2022), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007 and 2010), and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984, awarded to the senior whose interests are not bounded by academic or institutional structures. A joyous, deeply-rooted affirmation of life, disdain for the purely conventional; a love of adventure, and desire to learn by experiencing; the ability to respond creatively to difficult situations). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee (until 2011) and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, a 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff including 4 FINA World Championships, and 2008 NBC Olympic 10K Marathon Swim commentator.
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