The Finswimming World Championships is the peak international event for the underwater sport of finswimming. These are conducted on behalf of the sport's governing body, Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (CMAS) by an affiliated national federation.

Scheduling

The championship is split into two events on the basis of age for both male and female swimmers - seniors (i.e. 18 years and older) and juniors (i.e. 12 to 17 years old).^[1] The senior championship was first held in 1976 while the junior championship was first held in 1989.^[2] From 1976 to 1990, the senior championships were held every four years, except for the championship held in Moscow during 1982, and from 1990 to 2006 it was held every two years.^[2] The junior championship has been held every two years from 1993, with the exception of the years 2005 and 2006.^[2] As of 2007, the championships have been held every two years, with the senior age group event being held in the odd years starting with 2007, while the junior age group event is held in even years starting with 2008.^[1]

Organization

A world championship is conducted at two sites within a geographical locality - one being an olympic-size swimming pool (also known as a long course pool) and the other being an open water site suitable for long-distance finswimming.^[1]

The pool competition is carried out over five days with qualifying heats held in the morning and finals held in the afternoon. Races are conducted in the following techniques and distances for both male and female swimmers:

• Surface finswimming (SF) - individual races for distances of 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m, and relays for 4 × 100 m, 4 × 200 m and 4×50 (mixed).
• Bi-Fins (BF, also known as ‘Stereo-fins’) - 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m, and relays for 4×100 (mixed).
• Apnoea finswimming (AP also known as ‘apnea’) - 50m while juniors younger than 14 years old swim only 25m.
• Immersion finswimming (IM) - 100m and 400m.^[1]

As of 2014, the long-distance competition is held over one day for senior and juniors swimmers with the following schedule: Morning - 4 x 2 km mixed team relay (2 men and 2 women) and Afternoon - 6 km individual swim. National federations may register a maximum of one relay team and a maximum of four individuals for the 6 km race. Long distance swimming is only open to SF and BF techniques.^[1][3]

Championships

In 1988 to 2005, World Championship in Long Distance Fins (LFD) was also held (World Championships in Long Distance Fins). Since 2006 competitions at all distances have been held at a single world championship.

Seniors (+18) Since 1976 (Open Waters events 2016 - 2018):[4][5][6][7][8][9] Edition Year Host City Host Country Events Pool 1 1976 Hannover  West Germany 21 2 1980 Bologne  Italy 21 3 1982 Moscow  Soviet Union 20 4 1986 West Berlin  West Germany 21 5 1990 Rome  Italy 22 6 1992 Athens  Greece 22 7 1994 Dongguan  China 24 8 1996 Dunaújváros  Hungary 24 9 1998 Cali  Colombia 24 10 2000 Palma de Mallorca  Spain 24 11 2002 Patras  Greece 24 12 2004 Shanghai  China 24 Pool and LFD 13 2006 Turin  Italy 30 14[lower-alpha 1] 2007 Bari  Italy 36 15 2009 Saint Petersburg  Russia 36 16 2011 Hódmezővásárhely  Hungary 36 17 2013 Kazan  Russia 36 18 2015 Yantai  China 31 19 2016 Volos  Greece 31 20 2018 Belgrade  Serbia 35 Pool 21 2021 Tomsk  Russia 32 22 2022 Cali  Colombia 23 2024 Belgrade  Serbia 24 2025 Chios  Greece LFD (Seniors and Juniors) Edition Year Host City Host Country Events 1 1988 Paris  France 4+0 2 1990 Kavala  Greece 2+0 3 1992 Almelo  Netherlands 2+0 4 1994 Gambarogno   Switzerland 2+2 5 1995 La Ciotat  France 4+4 6 1997 Gdańsk  Poland 2+2 7 1999 San Andrés  Colombia 4+4 8 2001 Ravenna  Italy 6+4 9 2003 Alexandria  Egypt 6+4 10 2005 La Ciotat  France 8+4

Juniors (12 - 17) Since 1989 (Open Waters events 2014 - 2019):[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] Edition Year Host City Host Country Events Pool 1 1989 Dunaújváros  Hungary 20 2 1993 Lyon  France 27 3 1995 Bratislava  Slovakia 24 4 1997 Balatonfűzfő  Hungary 24 5 1999 Strasbourg  France 24 6 2001 Aguascalientes  Mexico 20 7 2003 Jeju City  South Korea 23 8 2005 Ostrowiec  Poland 36 Pool and LFD 9 2006 Moscow  Russia 38 10 2008 Neiva  Colombia 37 11 2010 Palma de Mallorca  Spain 34 12 2012 Graz  Austria 34 13 2014 Chania  Greece 34 14 2016 Annemasse  France 32 15 2017 Tomsk  Russia 39 16 2019 Sharm El Sheikh  Egypt 35 Pool 17 2021 Lignano Sabbiadoro  Italy 18 2023 Cairo  Egypt Masters (30 - Over 75) (Pool and Open Waters) Edition Year Host City Host Country Events 1 2019 Ravenna  Italy 139 2 2021 Lignano Sabbiadoro  Italy 3 2022 Cali  Colombia 4 2023 Belgrade  Serbia Open Water (Juniors, Seniors, Masters) Edition Year Host City Host Country Events 1 2021 Santa Marta  Colombia 2 2022 Viverone  Italy 3 2024 Marseille  France

Notes

References

External links

• CMAS Finswimming Championship Archive