USA Swimming announced Thursday its open water roster for the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha, with four-time World Championship medalist Katie Grimes among the five swimmers named.
Grimes, 17, won bronze in the women’s 10km event at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, a performance that made her the first American athlete across all sports to qualify for the Paris Olympics.
On the women’s side, Grimes will be joined in Doha by 2023 World Championship teammate Mariah Denigan, while the men’s team will feature Olympian Michael Brinegar along with Ivan Puskovitch and Josh Brown.
U.S. OPEN WATER ROSTER, 2024 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Michael Brinegar (Bloomington, Ind./CA – The Swim Team) – Men’s 10K
- Josh Brown (Winter Park, Fla./Sandpipers of Nevada) – Men’s 5K
- Mariah Denigan (Walton, Ky./Indiana University) – Women’s 10K, 5K
- Katie Grimes (Las Vegas, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada) – Women’s 10K, 5K
- Ivan Puskovitch (West Chester, Pa./TSM Aquatics) – Men’s 10K, 5K
Grimes is the lone American swimmer who will race both pool and open water events in Doha, as she was named to the U.S. pool swimming roster last month with entries in the women’s 200, 400 and 800 freestyle.
Puskovitch, Brinegar and Brown all qualified for the team at the World Aquatics Open Water World Cup finale earlier this month in Funchal, Portugal, while Grimes’ and Denigan’s performances in Fukuoka locked them in.
Denigan was eighth in the women’s 10km at the 2023 Worlds (the swim that qualified her), and in the 5km, she placed 18th.
Brinegar, currently training at The Swim Team (TST) in California under Mark Schubert, won bronze at the 2019 World Championships as a member of the U.S. squad in the open water Team Event.
In 2021, Brinegar qualified for the U.S. Olympic team in the men’s 800 and 1500 freestyle in the pool, ultimately placing 17th in both in Tokyo.
Puskovitch, who has twice represented the U.S. at the World Junior Open Water Championships is also training at TST and told SwimSwam in September that he plans to join West Virginia University in January after transferring over from USC.
Brown will represent the U.S. for the first time on the major international stage. Although he ranked third among Americans in the 10km at the Funchal World Cup stop, Brinegar has withdrawn from the 5km in Doha which opened up a spot for Brown.
The team will be led by Cory Chitwood, who is currently the associate head coach at Indiana where Denigan trains and Brinegar has previously been based. Chitwood also served as the head coach of the U.S. open water team at the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, and was an assistant earlier this year in Fukuoka.
He will be joined by assistant coach Mohammad Khadembashi, the head coach at Team Santa Monica (TSM Aquatics).
2024 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OPEN WATER SCHEDULE
- February 3 – women’s 10K
- February 4 – men’s 10K
- February 7 – women’s 5K, men’s 5K
- February 8 – mixed 4x1500m relay
The open water portion of the 2024 World Aquatics Championships will run from February 3-8 at Old Doha Port.
USA Swimming named an 18-member pool swimming roster last month, with that portion of the competition running from February 11-18.
