Just hours before the beginning of the women’s 10k, the first open water race of the 2011 FINA World Championships, FINA announced that it has moved the 25km races an hour earlier than originally scheduled.
Both 25km races are to take place on the morning of Saturday, July 23rd. Now, the mens race will begin at 7 AM (instead of 8), and the women’s race will begin at 7:15 (instead of 8:15). In US East Coast (New York) time, that equates to 7 PM Friday night for the men and 7:15 PM Friday night for the women.
This change is presumably to fall in line with FINA’s commitment to swim the races under the safest possible conditions. By starting the races earlier, they will complete as much of the races as is possible before getting to the hottest part of the day. The men’s 25km races usually run about five-and-a-half hours, and the women’s races run closer to six, depending on how the events unfold.