Man of Molecular Motion

In this edition of Beyond the Blocks, we explore how Dolphins Open Water Head Coach Fernando Possenti has launched a new medal event – the innovative 3km knockout sprint that will feature at this month’s Australian Open Water Championships.

Dolphins head coach Fernando Possenti is making waves in the sport of open water swimming

LIFE is simple, just add water.

And while you’re at it – why not throw in another event? Something fast, furious and fun.

Australian Open Water Head Coach Fernando Possenti is the mastermind behind a new medal event at this month’s Australian Open Water Championships, the 3km knockout sprint.

After the event’s inclusion in the 2025 World Aquatics World Championships, Possenti has turned on the jets to make a feature of the men’s and women’s race knockout race in Aussie waters that is now attracting the likes of renowned distance pool swimmer and Olympian Sam Short.

But then again, Possenti is the Archimedes of open water swimming.

Just 12 months into the head coaching role of the Dolphins Open Water team has seen Possenti deliver Australia’s most successful open water World Championships campaign in July 2025 (two gold and two bronze) and now revolutionise the event program of the country’s best swimmers.

“Open water at a high-performance level is changing all the time. There’s constantly a new format to adapt to – from 25km to 10km to relays, and now 3km,” Possenti said.

“And that’s good. In fact, I should be the one fighting to keep the 25km considering Ana (Brazil’s multiple world champion Ana Marcela Cunha) and I have won it five times at world championships. We know that race like the back of our hand. But the point is, it’s not the future.

“And open water swimming here in Australia allows its swimmers to dream big, to try new things and this is not only exciting for our athletes but for us as coaches and spectators.”

Possenti, who joined Swimming Australia from Brazil at the start of 2025, has long been a driving force in the sport. He famously coached Marcela Cunha to Brazil’s first Olympic gold medal in marathon swimming in Tokyo.

It was in Brazil over five years ago that Possenti and his good friend Pedro Monteiro fashioned the 3km knockout sprint for their national audience and athletes.

“Funnily enough we didn’t call it a ‘knockout’, it was the ‘split 3k’ and we were looking for a new event that would attract broadcasters as well as new audiences and participants to help grow the sport,” he said.

“And then World Aquatics finally took notice and added it to their international program … and voila!”

The 3km knockout sprint is a tournament style event that is as furious as it is fast.

Testing resilience, endurance and speed, three races are held in a short time frame. It begins with two heats of 1500m, the top 20 then advance to one heat of 1000m before the final 10 line up for a 500m sprint to decide the winner.

Not since Tasmanian Chris Guesdon saw a future and successfully pitched for the 10km marathon swim to become an Olympic event in 2008 Beijing, has the sport of open water swimming experienced such a renaissance.

Perth in 1991 was the first location for open water racing in the FINA (now World Aquatics) World Championships and it was a gruelling 25km race in the Swan River, won by one of Australia’s greatest marathon swimmers Shelley Taylor-Smith and USA’s Chad Hundeby.

Taking inspiration from other longer distance sports such as triathlon and cycling, Guesdon tackled time and distance to turn 10km into an Olympic – and consumer – viable event.

Now flash forward 15 years and the 3km knockout sprint is the clarion call for athletes, a new audience … and broadcasters.

“If we need to keep this sport in the Olympic programme and have hope of adding a new race, we need to adapt ourselves for a format that will engage more numbers of participants and more attention and promotion,” Possenti said.

And while Possenti is embracing change and endorsing innovation, his secret to success is anchored in the oldest truth of all – our connection to water itself.

“To succeed in open water, you need to predict the unpredictable,” he said.

“That is what I love about the sport – how it’s our greatest chance to connect with nature and… how you need to adapt to survive, just like in nature and just like us as human beings.

“Anything can happen before, during or even after a race and athletes especially must be empowered to make their own decisions.

“There’s not only adaptations to the water conditions to consider but also you need to adapt yourself and your race plan to the thousands of decisions and situations being played out all at once during the marathon event.”

For Possenti, it’s not about rewriting the sport, it’s about securing its future – just as Guesdon and Taylor-Smith did before him.

Because in open water, where the ocean always has the final say, innovation isn’t optional. It’s essential.

Or to paraphrase and amend a man who defined the principle from which swimming itself is possible, Archimedes: give them a place to swim, and they will move the world.

We hope you enjoyed this Beyond The Blocks read!

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