Breaking: 2023 Israel?Hamas War Leads FINA Drive Participants to Portugal for World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup 2023

The 2023 Swimming World Cup has officially completed its 1st leg of the competition. Last weekend marked the end of the Berlin leg of the tournament and in only a day’s time, the Athens leg of the tournament is about to commence. This will be followed by another set of events between 20th and 22nd October in Budapest, where the competition will come to an end for regular events. Soon after, the 2023 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup is set to follow from 1st to 2nd December 2023.

This upcoming World Cup for open events was earlier scheduled to be held at the Gulf of Eilat in Isreal, which has already hosted 4 FINA Marathon Swim meets in the past. However, with the ongoing war situation in Isreal, the World Aquatics body has now decided to shift the venue for the 2023 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup to a new place.

Who is hosting the 2023 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup?

Since the past few days, there has been an outbreak of war conditions in Israel as the country is engaged in fighting with Hamas. This has now also become an issue for the World Aquatics body which had earlier decided to host the 2023 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup in the Gulf of Eilat. However, that has changed now as the latest X post by World Aquatics announced that the upcoming competition has now shifted to Funchal in Portugal.

This move comes after a number of swimming federations were weighing their options regarding sending their athletes to Israel in December. While authorities were only deliberating until now, the tweet from the official account of World Aquatics all but confirms the venue change. Only a few days ago, according to a Swim Swam report, a spokesperson for USA Swimming had stated,??We will not be releasing any statement until we have thoroughly vetted all options and made the right decision for our athletes and coaches. This is an extremely high priority for us.??World Aquatics’ decision to choose Funchal as the host for the 2023 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup is deeply rooted in Funchal’s past event successes and its literally breathtaking open water distances.

Funchal’s open-water events prowess

In the past, Funchal, Portugal has hosted a series of elite global swimming competitions. Just last month, the Funchal 2023 hosted the first-ever LEN European Masters Short Course Swimming Championships. The tournament also included some impressive long-distance open water events that ranged between 1.5km and 3km. Whereas for the upcoming Open Water World Cup in December, Funchal will host the men’s and women’s individual 10km disciplines and mixed 3x1500m relays along with other open water events.

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As for the venue change by World Aquatics, the whole world is waiting for a peaceful conflict resolution to the ongoing Israel?Hamas war, but for now, a change in venue was the only safe option. This latest announcement would surely help relieve the athletes and their federations who can now focus on the last leg of the 2023 Swimming World Cup.

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