Having started in 2015, the Oceanman World Championships have been held at 19 scenic locations worldwide including Spain, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine, Bali, Thailand, Mexico and Colombia.

This year they will be held at another stunning location a far cry from the open water swimming events in the polluted River Seine that became such an infamous takeaway from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

Alma Resort overlooking Long Beach on Vietnam’s Cam Ranh peninsula has been chosen as Oceanman’s official hotel partner destination and will soon host an anticipated 900 participants from around 30 countries, in addition to numerous spectators and event organisers.

The 30-hectare resort was chosen for being “an unparalleled setting that is bold, spacious and emblematic of Vietnam’s maturation as a destination”.

“We are so excited to welcome such a prestigious event to our remarkable oceanfront location and array of world-class facilities ranging from 12 swimming pools that cascade down to the beach to a water park replete with a lazy river, slides and wave pool,” said Alma’s managing director Herbert Laubichler-Pichler

“Oceanman’s ecological awareness is a good fit with Alma’s efforts to protect the environment, including the implementation of Vietnam’s most ambitious solar power project, and of course, we will be cheering on the participants, particularly our lifeguards Hien and Thao, with gusto.”

Participants will be competing in the gruelling 10km ‘Oceanman’ swim, the 5km ‘Half Oceanman’ swim, the 2km ‘Sprint’ swim, and the 3.5 km ‘Ocean Teams' relay.

There will also be a 500m ‘Ocean Kids’ swim for youngsters. 

All events will start and finish on Alma’s beachfront between September 6-8.

Long Beach, or Bai Dai in Vietnamese, is considered one of Asia’s most beautiful beaches and boasts over 8 miles of sandy shores, palm trees, and aquamarine waters.

Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards recently scored Alma 99.2 on the awards’ 100-point survey placing it as the number-one resort in Southeast Asia, the second-best resort in all of Asia and the ninth-best resort in the world.