LEN, the governing body for European Aquatics, announced the calendar for the 2022 LEN Open Water Cup on Monday.
The competition, which is a series of different 10-kilometer open water races taking place in different cities across Europe, is set to have six legs beginning in March and concluding in September. They are as follows:
- Leg 1- March 23, 2022, in Eilat, Israel
- Leg 2- June 2, 2022, in Piombino, Italy
- Leg 3- June 9, 2022, in Alghero, Italy
- Leg 4- July 11, 2022, in Belgrade, Serbia
- Leg 5- August 26, 2022, in Kiel, Germany
- Leg 6- September 23, 2022, in Barcelona, Spain
Although some of the competition venues have hosted legs in the past (like Barcelona, for instance, which has hosted a leg every year since 2017), this year marks the first time that the cup has been held in places such as Kiel or Belgrade.
In previous years, the competition has featured big-name open water swimmers like 2021 10K Olympic gold and silver medalists Florian Wellbrock and Gregorio Paltrinieri on the men’s side, and 2016 10K Olympic champion Sharon van Rouwendaal on the women’s side.
Last year’s open water cup had five different legs held from August to October 2021, although the second leg set in Rijeka, Croatia was canceled. Paltrinieri was the most successful swimmer of the series, winning both the leg 4 and leg 5 races. He was the only swimmer to win more than one race.
This year’s competition marks the 10th year that this event has been held.
For European open water swimmers, the 2022 swimming calendar will be a very busy one despite the recent postponement of the 19th FINA World Championships to July 2023. In addition to the open water cup, the open water leg of the European Aquatics Championships is set for August 16-24 in Rome, Italy, as well as the European Junior Open Water Championships that will occur July 21-24 in Paris, France.