The 2023 FINA Open Water Tour, also called 2023 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup, started on 8 May 2023 in Egypt for the first leg and is scheduled to end in Eilat, Israel on 2 December 2023 for the fifth and final leg. It is the 17th edition of the FINA-sanctioned FINA Marathon Swim World Series.[1][2][3]
For this 17th edition of the series, FINA implemented a name change from the previous edition, introducing the name FINA Open Water Tour in place of the former name FINA Marathon Swim World Series.[4] On 19 March 2023, World Aquatics introduced a second name for the event, 2023 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup.[3] On 5 April 2023, World Aquatics announced its bans on Russian and Belarusian athletes from 2022, not allowing them to compete at World Aquatics events, was in effect indefinitely, meaning they were banned from competing at the Open Water Tour.[5]
Calendar
The calendar for the 2023 Tour was originally scheduled in November 2022 by FINA to include six legs.[1] On 19 March 2023, World Aquatics announced a modified schedule adding a leg in Egypt and removing the legs in Taiwan and Hong Kong from the 2023 tour without explanation.[3] The first leg of the tour is part of the multi-sport (open water swimming, water polo, artistic swimming) Egypt Aquatics Festival, which is the successor to the first FINA Aquatics Festival edition (the Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival, held in 2021).[6]