Inaugural Australia Open Water Cup to debut 3km knockout event in Darwin
A brand new medal event pushing its case for eventual Olympic inclusion will make its Darwin debut in the first leg of the inaugural Australia Cup. Read how you can get involved.
A brand new medal event pushing its case for eventual Olympic inclusion will make its Darwin debut in the first leg of the inaugural Australia Cup.
The Australia Open Water Cup will give local athletes their chance to compete against some of the very best in the country with registrations still open for the Darwin Waterfront event until the end of the week.
And the marquee event on September 13 will be the 3km knockout sprint, which proved a crowd favourite at the recent World Championships in Singapore.
It features three races in a short time, tournament style, with two heats of an open water 1500m, before a 1000m sprint, finishing off with the last 500m sprint, which determines the winner.
Three of the Dolphins who took part in Singapore Nick Sloman, Thomas Raymond and Chelsea Gubecka will compete in Darwin to contest the first of four legs of the Australia Open Water Cup.
The event was created by Australia open water swimming head coach Fernando Possenti who said the series was designed to challenge endurance and strategy.
“We are using these events to give our athletes more opportunity to compete in an open level while introducing the format to future competitors,” Possenti said.
“Singapore was amazing, they were competing for the first or second time in their lives and we had Moesha Johnson winning Bronze and Raymond as a rookie placing fifth.
“For Darwin juniors to see these Dolphins competing in the Waterfront and performing well is an inspiration piece, and now to be able to race in this format domestically will put the seed in their minds.
“I hope the people of Darwin come out and enjoy watching it while others take part and see there is a path to follow.”
Possenti used Darwin to train his swimmers as the last camp ahead of the World Championships and realised then the untapped potential of the location for national swimmers.
“Darwin was unbelievable, we had the opportunity to visit and train in the amazing facilities and it was a great chance to create a bong before a benchmark event like Singapore,” he said.
“When I think of Darwin it’s about the Waterfront area, which is perfect for the 3km knockout, it’s an area you can control while enjoying and watching the whole race.
“It’s an amazing venue to compete and shows that open water is all around the country, it’s not just for the big cities but the regional areas too and that’s why we wanted to start in Darwin.”
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The Darwin leg of the Australia Cup will be followed by events in Queensland, Western Australia and New South Wales.
The best three results across the Series will result in points allocated towards the Australia Cup Trophy and points will be used to provide additional funding to attend Leg 1 of the 2026 World Aquatics World Cup.
Entries for the Darwin leg close on September 7 via swimcentral.swimming.org.au
Originally published as Inaugural Australia Open Water Cup to debut 3km knockout event in Darwin
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