Record numbers for Busselton Open Water Championships and OceanSwim Festival

A record number of athletes will swim through one of the most recognisable jetties in Australia - the Busselton Jetty - as part of this week’s 2024 Australian Open Water Championships and OceanSwim Festival.

The men’s 10km open water, headed by Australian Dolphin Jack Wilson, will open proceedings in the Western Australian town today (Wednesday 24th January) at the first major Australian-based swimming event of the year.

With water temperature hovering around 25 degrees, early morning conditions are expected to be perfect for the men’s 10km race which also includes Australian World Cup swimmers Robert Bonsall and Thomas Raymond.

In the women’s 10km open event, Madisyn Armstrong - sister to World Championship-bound Bailey - is part of field that also includes New Zealand’s Abbey Smale and Japan’s Miku Kojima and Misa Okuzono.

The boys’ and girls’ 18-19 years 10km open water, and boys’ and girls’ 16-17 years 7.5km ocean swims are also part of tomorrow’s racing with selection for World Junior Championships on the line.

In all, the four days of swimming from 24th to 27th January will see more than 800 swimmers compete in the Championships and OceanSwim festival including eight international athletes from Japan, New Zealand, Seychelles, Italy and Sri Lanka.

For the second year running, the event blends high-performance racing with the community focused OceanSwim races on 26th January, attracting elite athletes and hundreds of amateur swimming enthusiasts.

A variety of distances are on offer for the community swim, including 500m, 1.25km, 2.5km, 5km, 7.5km and 10km options, with registrations to be taken right up to race time via the Swimming Australia events page.

Spectators attending the Ocean Swim Festival will also be treated to a number of onshore activities including music and entertainment for kids, a night market and other activities.

The event is proudly supported by the Western Australian Government through Tourism WA’s Regional Events Program, funded by Royalties for Regions, and the City of Busselton.

Image credit: Swimming WA.