Cancún Opens World Aquatics Open Water World Cup 2026/27

Cancún, Quintana Roo — Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama Espinosa fired the starting signal on Friday for the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup 2026/27 at Playa Langosta, the opening stop of the season and the sport’s return to Cancún after more than a decade.

Lezama said the event reinforces Cancún and the Mexican Caribbean as an international reference point, drawing world-class competitions that put the state in the global spotlight and strengthen its standing as a host of major sporting events.

Friday’s program featured the women’s and men’s 10-kilometer races, with the 3-kilometer events scheduled for Saturday, November 7.

The Cancún leg brings together 122 swimmers — 61 women and 61 men — from 37 countries. Of those, 100 are foreign athletes and 22 make up the Mexican delegation, led by Olympian and Pan American champion Paulo Strehlke. Also competing is Quintana Roo’s Fernando Betanzos, a national team member and one of the state’s most experienced open water swimmers.

The field includes Olympic medalists Florian Wellbrock and Oliver Klemet of Germany, Moesha Johnson of Australia, Ginevra Taddeucci of Italy, David Betlehem of Hungary and Marc-Antoine Olivier of France.

It is the second time Quintana Roo has hosted a world open water event; the previous edition in the state was held in 2015.

The cup is organized by World Aquatics, Aquatics México, the National Commission for Physical Culture and Sport (Conade) and the Quintana Roo Sports Commission (Codeq). The Cancún stop is one of five on the series, which continues in Egypt, then at a venue still to be confirmed, and moves on to Italy and Portugal in 2027.

Beyond the elite competition, the event is meant to position Cancún and Quintana Roo as sports tourism destinations, with activity flowing to hotels, restaurants, transport and other tourism services.

Joining the governor at the start were Verónica Lezama Espinosa, honorary president of the DIF Quintana Roo family services agency; Benito Juárez Mayor Ana Paty Peralta; Eric Arcila, chief of the governor’s office; and Jacobo Arzate Hop, president of Codeq. Also present were Ignasi Vendrell, World Aquatics operations director; Rommel Pacheco, director of Conade; Fernando Platas, president of Aquatics México; and Daniel Delgadillo Faisal, president of Mexico’s swimming and open water swimming association.