Similar to what is seen in Europe where the confederation that governs swimming in the region, Ligue Européenne de Natation (also known as LEN) oversees an open water swimming series, South America’s Confederación Sudamericana de Natación (CONSANAT) has announced the launch of series of 10K races between March and October of this year. This will be a great advantage for South American open water swimming which has been developing as a regional powerhouse for several years. Most notably, Brazilian swimmers have made significant impacts behind Poliana Okimoto, Ana Marcela Cuhna, Allan Do Carmo and Samuel De Bona.
Race dates and locations are:
March 29: Piura, Peru
July 15: Isla Margarita, Venezuela
September 6: Tarija, Bolivia
September 27: Cartagena, Colombia
October 25: in Argentina
With two FINA World Cup events in South and Central America, there is the potential that this series can enhance opportunities for open water swimmers via increased high level competitive opportunities within the region.
The establishment of more high level race opportunities for open water swimming will likely prove instrumental in this aspect of swimming. With the inclusion of the 10k on the Olympic program, more swimmers are now pursuing this discipline leading to more tightly contested exciting races.
More information on the CONSANAT series can be found on their website. You can also find more info on the LEN series their website.