About 2,400 swimmers from 22 countries have begun the final stage of this year’s International Arena AquaChallenge Swimming Championship in Marmaris, on the Muğla coast, the Demirören News Agency (DHA) reported on Saturday.
The 27th edition of the open-water series opened with a 3-kilometre sea race in İçmeler, a resort neighbourhood of Marmaris, where Marmaris District Governor Nurullah Kaya gave the start signal. In Türkiye a district governor, or kaymakam, is the central government’s appointed representative in a district, separate from the elected mayor.
Races through Monday
According to DHA, the competition continues in Marmaris on 24 and 25 October, with swimmers racing for placings over several courses. The series then moves along the coast to Göcek, the yachting bay in Fethiye district, where it closes on Monday, 26 October, with a 10-kilometre open-water race.
Open-water events are swum in the sea rather than in a pool, over marked courses between buoys or along the shore.
The agency did not give a breakdown of the participating countries or age groups, and no results had been reported by early afternoon.
Organisers
The championship is held under the patronage of the Muğla Governor’s Office, with the Turkish Swimming Federation and the Muğla Provincial Directorate of Youth and Sports coordinating the races, DHA said.
Autumn events on the Muğla coast
The swimming final adds to a busy October calendar in Muğla, running alongside the Ölüdeniz Air Games in Fethiye, which end on Sunday. Hotels on the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts have been reporting a longer autumn season this year, and airlines are adding capacity at the region’s airports, including new direct AJet routes from Dalaman and Bodrum to Germany for summer 2027. Passenger figures for Turkish airports in the first nine months of 2026 show the scale of travel to the country this year.
Visitors and spectators heading to Göcek for Monday’s final can find more on the area in our guide to living in Fethiye, which covers the district’s towns, costs and property market.
Sources
Photo: Todd Quackenbush / Unsplash License, via Unsplash
