Ibiza will host a round of the Open Water Swimming World Cup for the third consecutive year on April 23 and 24, 2027.
The Spanish island was selected by World Aquatics to stage the third stop of the global circuit, serving as a key preparation event just over two months before the 2027 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest.
Husain Al Musallam, the president of World Aquatics, welcomed the island's retention on the international schedule. He said the governing body was excited to confirm Ibiza on the World Cup calendar, praising the staging of earlier editions and noting that local organisers had proved to be excellent hosts.
Fernando Carpena, the president of the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation, said the island had established itself as a fantastic destination for open water swimming. He praised the venue and coastal setting that Ibiza provides for hosting elite international competitions.
Spanish medal success in previous editions
The decision to return to the Balearic island follows two earlier editions that earned positive evaluations from international race officials and produced strong results for the host nation. At the previous edition in April 2026, Spanish competitors claimed three medals across the distance events.
Candela Sánchez earned the gold medal in the women's five-kilometre race, while her compatriot Paula Otero finished third to take the bronze medal in the same event. In the ten-kilometre race, Spain's Ángela Martínez took the silver medal.
International competitors also used victories in Ibiza to propel themselves to overall season titles. Moesha Johnson of Australia and David Betlehem of Hungary both took race wins on the island in 2026. Each swimmer went on to finish the season as the overall champion of the Open Water Swimming World Cup standings.
Ambitions for the 2028 Olympic qualifier
In addition to staging the World Cup round in 2027, Ibiza is pursuing a larger international assignment. The island aims to host the qualifying event for the 2028 Olympic Games.
The Olympic qualifier remains an ambition that has not yet received an official designation from World Aquatics. If awarded, the pre-Olympic event would bring the world's elite distance swimmers to the Mediterranean island to secure qualification spots for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
Olympic marathon swimming is contested over a ten-kilometre course, a distance first introduced to the Olympic programme at the Beijing 2008 Games. Securing an Olympic qualifying event represents one of the most prestigious hosting opportunities in distance swimming, drawing deep international fields to contest a strictly limited number of Olympic berths.
Preparation for the Budapest World Championships
The timing of the Ibiza races gives the stop particular importance for competitors preparing for the main championship meet of the year. The competition is scheduled just over two months before the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary.
Open water swimming events at the Budapest world championships are scheduled to run from July 3 to July 8, 2027. The April races off Ibiza will allow swimmers to gauge their race sharpness, evaluate tactical pacing, and test physical conditioning against international rivals before travelling to the Hungarian capital.
Budapest has become an established hub for global aquatics, having previously hosted major international championships at the Duna Aréna and open water events in surrounding waters. The World Aquatics Championships represent the premier global competition in the sport outside the Olympic Games.
The split-year international calendar
The 2027 stop in Ibiza forms part of a historic change in how the Open Water Swimming World Cup is structured. For the first time in the history of the competition, the circuit is taking place across two separate calendar years.
The series launched on Friday, November 6, in the Mexican resort city of Cancún. Spain entered a three-swimmer contingent in the opening ten-kilometre race in Mexico, with Ángela Martínez, María de Valdés, and Candela Sánchez all competing in the field.
Following the stop in Cancún, the competition travels to the Red Sea coastal resort of Somabay in Egypt before arriving in Ibiza for the third round. From Spain, swimmers move directly to Italy, where Golfo Aranci on the island of Sardinia will stage the fourth leg one week later, on April 30 and May 1.
The season will conclude in Portugal, where the coastal city of Setúbal will host the final round of the circuit on May 28 and May 29, 2027. Setúbal has long been a fixture in elite international distance swimming, having previously hosted world series stops and Olympic qualifying regattas in its coastal waters.
The global open water discipline
Open water swimming differs fundamentally from traditional pool competition, requiring athletes to navigate long distances in outdoor bodies of water such as oceans, seas, and lakes. Swimmers must contend with changing tides, water currents, surface swell, and fluctuating water temperatures while swimming without lane ropes in close physical packs.
Competitors routinely employ drafting techniques behind rivals to conserve energy and take liquid nutrition from coaches positioned on feeding pontoons along the course. The five-kilometre sprint and ten-kilometre marathon distances remain the two standard individual formats contested on the World Cup circuit.
World Aquatics, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, oversees all global aquatic disciplines including swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, and open water competition. The Royal Spanish Swimming Federation directs national training programmes and represents Spain across the international circuit.
