The number of participants in KIBG in Open Water Swimming has gone up substantially this year
For years, Open Water Swimming was more an expedition with swimmers focusing on conquering the English Channel or swimming long distances
Open Water Swimming is now an Olympic discipline and that should attract a lot more pool swimmers to the sport.
Diu
The mention of Open Water or Sea Swimming normally put focus on endurance swimming that has been made popular by the likes of Mihir Sen and Bula Chowdhary, who conquered the English Channel decades ago. Since then swimming enthusiasts have been braving the waves from Dharamtar to Gateway in India, hoping to conquer the sea and make a name for themselves by breaking the record of being the youngest to swim the distance.
Those dreams suffered a setback when the English Channel made a rule that only those above 14 years could attempt the swim and most other expeditions began following the rule.
One of Maharashtra’s team manager Neha Sapte was one of them who swam from Dharamtar to Gateway when she was just nine years old before the age rule was introduced. “Because of that rule, I shifted to shooting and I am happy that I went on to represent India in that sport.”
But Open Water Swimming is now an Olympic discipline, introduced in the 2008 Beijing Games and features a 10km circuit course either in the sea or river. And that has been instrumental in attracting pool swimmers to the discipline and the focus is now shifting from expedition to competition.
At the Khelo India Beach Games 2026, Anurag Singh of Uttar Pradesh and Ashmita Chandra of Karnataka, who had won medals in Khelo India Youth Games and Khelo India University Games in the past, clinched the gold medals in the men and women 10km races.
Both Anurag and Ashmita trained for the event in the pool, focusing on endurance training where they would spend almost six to seven hours in the water twice or thrice a day. While Anurag set a timing of 2:22:02sec to win the gold, Ashmita tapped the finish line at 2:46:34s.
How difficult it is to shift from the pool to open water can be understood from the fact that in the swimming pool, the longest distance to race is 1500m while the Olympic movement recognises only 5km and 10km distance in Open Water swimming.
Ashmita, who has already participated in four Open Swimming World Championships, explained the technical difference between swimming in the pool and the sea. “The waves and the course is quite challenging in the sea apart from the distance itself. A day before the race, I tell myself to stay prepared for the worst. It normally takes one lap to understand the tide and then I focus on my speed.”
Even organising an Open Water Competition in the Sea is a challenge in itself as the organisers have to study the tide table a month ago and monitor it on a weekly basis before finalising the exact time for the race.
