LONDON HOSTS INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING FESTIVAL
London plays host to its largest ever open water swimming
event this week when both world and European competitions
are held in the capital.
The FINA (world) and LEN (European) 10k races are part of
a Festival of Open Water Swimming to be held from 11-12 June
at the London Regatta Centre. It will involve more than 50
athletes from as far a field as Argentina, Canada and Egypt.
Britain's first ever World Open Water Swimming Championship
medallist Alan Bircher will be flying the flag for his home
country in both events, along with five other British swimmers
who will compete in the FINA Marathon World Cup.
Most of the world's top open water swimmers will be on display
in the Thames, including last year's World Cup winner Petar
Stoychev of Bulgaria and 2004 World 10k Champion, Germany's
Thomas Lurz.
Swimmers ranked two and three in both the men's and women's
events after last year's World Cup have also confirmed their
attendance and are among the large group of athletes who will
compete for more than £15,000 prize money.
The LEN European Cup is a series of 10k races spread over
Spain, Great Britain, France, Italy, Slovenia and Hungary,
with the Super Final taking place in Germany.
The FINA Marathon Swimming World Cup is a series of open
water swimming races which take place across four zones of
the world; South America (Zone A), Europe and Africa (Zone
B), North and Central America (Zone C) and Asia (Zone D).
This year, World Cup events are being hosted in Argentina,
Brasil, Serbia and Montenegro, Italy, Egypt, Mexico, Canada,
UAE, Hong Kong and Great Britain.
The British 10k Championships and 3k Masters and Junior events
are also being held at the Royal Albert Docks as part of the
Festival of Open Water Swimming.
The LEN European Cup takes place from 10.30am
on Saturday 11 June and the FINA 10k Marathon takes place
at 2.30pm on Sunday 11 July at the Royal Albert Docks in London.
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