2017 U.S. Open Water National Championships
- May 19-21, 2017
- May 19 – OW Nationals 10 KM
- May 20 – Junior Nationals 5 KM
- May 21 – OW Nationals 5 KM
- Castaic Lake, CA
- Meet Info (OW Nationals)
- Meet Info (JR Nationals)
- Start Lists
The 2017 U.S. Open Water Nationals are coming up this weekend, with the competition taking place from Friday the 19th until Sunday the 21st.
The 10K National races will take place on Friday, and the 5K National races will go off on Sunday. On Saturday, the Junior National 5K will be contested.
Spots will be up for grabs for a number of different teams this weekend. Not only will this serve as a qualifier for the 2017-18 National and Junior National teams, but also the 2017 World Championships, the 2017 World University Games and a junior FINA World Cup trip.
According to USA Swimming, action will begin at 11 AM PT on Friday and 8 AM on both Saturday and Sunday. Live webcasts will be available on their website for all races.
Headlining the field are 2016 Open Water Olympians Jordan Wilimovsky and Haley Anderson, both slated to compete in the 5K and 10K events. Wilimovsky, who also had a very impressive 4th place finish in the 1500 in Rio, took 5th in the Marathon 10K event. He is the defending world champion in the 10K after winning gold in Kazan.
Anderson has many international open water medals to her name, including an Olympic silver in London in the 10K and back-to-back world titles in 2013 and 2015 in the 5K. Like Wilimovsky, she was 5th in Rio.
Other notable Americans on the women’s side include Katy Campbell, Eva Fabian, Becca Mann, Ashley Twichell and Gabrielle Kopenski.
Along with Wilimovsky, the men’s start list includes open water veterans Andrew Gemmell and David Heron, and some better known for their pool performances such as True Sweetser, Chris Yeager, Blake Manganiello and Ben Lawless.
Along with the Americans, plenty of international swimmers have come to play. Canada has sent their entire Worlds squad to compete, headlined by 2012 bronze medalist Richard Weinberger. Ous Mellouli, the 2012 gold medalist, is also entered.
Great Britain has sent five athletes, using the meet as a qualifier for worlds. The top male and top female finisher will each secure their spot in the 10K at Worlds.
USA Swimming has also adopted FINA’s wetsuit rule for the competition after originally declaring it a no-wetsuit event. The rule states wetsuits will be mandatory for water temperatures below 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit, off limits for temperatures above 68 degrees, and optional for anything in between.
With wetsuits I wonder what the times will be like.
I’d love to see Katie Ledecky race against these top 10k swimmers! I think she could easily just sit in the middle of the pack conserving her energy and then blow everyone’s doors off in the last 500 meters. Another option for Olympic gold for her. Are you listening Katie?
What’s current water temp? I hear athletes are prepping for a wetsuit swim.
USA Swimming’s site has said 68 past 3 measurements. Castaic Lake’s home page has 65 as of yesterday.
I recently participated in the Fran Crippen Sunset Mile down in Fort Myers, Florida, along with Haley Anderson. She started in a later wave, and it was amazing when charged by me like a freight train. I’m a top 10% swimmer compared to other triathletes my age, but rather awful compared to pure swimmers. It’s really incomprehensible to me how fast these world class athletes swim. I wish they would do some sort of comparison during the Olympics so the people watching that have no exposure to swimming between the Olympiads could see just how fast they are. I mean they really have no clue because everyone in the water is going about the same speed. Only when they see… Read more »
I love the Joe Schmoe line! At a minimum they should be able to offer it as an option with the web app.
It kinda bugs me that there’s no mention in this article of the ~ times that these swimmers complete the 10k race in. The times are mind-boggling and worth a mention. Truly exceptional athletic achievement should be front and center!
their elite athletes. not sure their times are indicative of their achievements since they draft for 75% of the race. do you know how slow they go for the first 5k or so?
Let’s go Eva!!!