This week, World Aquatics unveiled most of the dates and venues for the 2026-2027 Open Water Swimming World Cup. The next edition of open water’s most prestigious competition circuit will slightly differ from its predecessors in two ways: it will span across two calendar years and take place on both sides of the Atlantic.
Open Water World Cup Dates and Locations:
Cancún (MEX) – November 6-7 2026
Somabay (EGY) – March 19-20 2027
To Be Confirmed – April 23-24 2027
Golfo Aranci (ITA) – April 30 – May 1 2027
Setúbal (POR) – May 28-29 2027
World Aquatics has stated that the calendar shift aims to curb scheduling conflicts between the World Cup and swimming’s biggest competitions of the next two years: Budapest 2027 World Championships and Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. Up until this year, the cup would span from spring to fall of the same calendar year.
As the Mexican government and SwimSwam reported in June, the resort town Cancún will host the cup’s first stop in just a few weeks’ time. It marks the first time the North American nation will host a World Aquatics open water event in over a decade, and the first time
The other three confirmed locations, by contrast, have been staple World Cup stops throughout most of, if not all, of the 2020s. The continuation of Setubal as a stop could spark controversy among athletes. This spring, 10+ swimmers reportedly fell ill at the Portuguese stop, with open water kingpins like Florian Wellbrock and Ginevra Taddeucci publicly calling out World Aquatics.
Though the location of the “To Be Confirmed” date is unknown, it could be the tourist town of Ibiza in Spain’s Balearic Islands, as that has been another staple stop in recent years.
