World Championships: 10k Open Water Races Postponed Due To Poor Water Quality
The men’s and women’s 10k races at the World Championships in Singapore have been pushed back to the afternoon (local time) of 16 July because of poor water quality.
The races were due to start in the morning of 16 July with the men’s going at at 7:30 a.m. local time and the women’s race scheduled to start at 10:15 a.m. That followed the initial postponement of the women’s event which was switched from its original date of 15 July.
Subject to acceptable test results following the collection of samples on 15 July, the men’s race will start at 1300 local time followed by the women’s event at 1600.
A statement from World Aquatics read: “World Aquatics, in coordination with the Singapore 2025 Organising Committee, confirms that while water quality results have improved, the Women’s 10km and Men’s 10km open water swimming events at the World Aquatics Championships – Singapore 2025 will not take place on the morning of 16 July 2025 due to water quality levels exceeding acceptable thresholds outlined in the World Aquatics competition regulations.
“These events will be postponed from their scheduled time on the morning of 16 July to the afternoon – subject to acceptable test results from samples collected at 17:00 SGT on 15 July 2025, expected by the morning of 16 July.
“Representatives from World Aquatics, the Singapore 2025 Organising Committee, the World Aquatics Sports Medicine Committee, and the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming Technical Committee will conduct a review of further tests on the morning of 16 July 2025.
“Regular water quality monitoring and testing continues throughout the competition period to ensure athlete safety, with the health and safety of all participants continuing to guide all competition-related decisions.”
Should the races not go ahead on 16 July, there’s a scheduled off day on 17 July on which they could be held although that mean there would be no recovery for those wanting to contest both the 5k and 10k given the shorter race follows on 18 July.
Revised schedule:
- 16 July – Men’s 10km at 13:00 SGT / Women’s 10km at 16:00 SGT
- 17 July – Regularly Scheduled Off Day
- 18 July – Men’s and Women’s 5km
- 19 July – Men’s and Women’s 3km Knockout Sprint
- 20 July – Mixed 4x1500m Relay
