We'd like to give a special thank you to our volunteers, organizing committee, local community, and partners for all the work to prepare a memorable championship event. We look forward to seeing everyone this weekend in Sarasota!

Visit the 2025 USMS Open Water Nationals page and carefully review all details to ensure a wonderful experience.

First step: all swimmers must complete this form and waiver by Tuesday, April 1 at 5:00 pm Eastern. The 1650y time submissions will be used to seed you in the correct wave.

COMPLETE FORM

Updates and Reminders

All swimmers will need to check-in at Benderson Park before the 1-mile on Friday and 5K on Saturday to pick up their timing chips and race caps. Swimmers in both races will need to check-in both days.
Here is the course map. The 1-mile will be one loop and the 5K will be three loops.
There will a mandatory safety briefing near the finish tower (five story building) at 4:30 pm on Friday and 10:30 am on Saturday.
All swimmers will enter and exit the water through a chute on the beach adjacent to the finish tower.
Swimmers will gather under the finish tower with one of four assigned groups and be sent off in waves several minutes apart.
You will have approximately 200 yards to warm-up while swimming from the beach (northeast corner of the lake) to the in-water start (northwest corner of the lake). Otherwise, there is no in-water warmup available.
Timing chips will be worn on both wrists. Touch the floating finish structure with either hand as you complete your swim.
Current USMS Rules will govern this event. See part 3 of the USMS Rule Book for details.
Spectators are welcome for the USA Swimming Open Water National Championships. Cheer on the best open water swimmers in the country! See more details here.

Timeline

USMS Sprint-Distance Open Water Nationals (1-mile) on Friday, April 4

3:00-4:15 pm: athlete on-site registration
4:30 pm: mandatory safety meeting
5:00 pm: first wave starts

USMS Long-Distance Open Water Nationals (5K) on Saturday, April 5

9:00-10:15 am: athlete on-site registration
10:30 am: mandatory safety meeting
11:00 am: first wave starts

What's Your Story?

Did you overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to compete? Do you have a great backstory about why you decided to sign up? We're looking to tell the stories of our participants for our coverage of the event. It doesn't matter if this is your first open water race or 50th, if you have a good story, we'd like to talk to you. Please email the Publications team.

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