The Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival was a FINA-organized international aquatics competition spanning the disciplines of

open water swimming Open water swimming is a swimming discipline which takes place in outdoor bodies of water such as open oceans, lakes, and rivers. The beginning of the modern age of open water human swimming, swimming is sometimes taken to be May 3, 1810, when L ...

diving Diving most often refers to: * Diving (sport), the sport of jumping into deep water * Underwater diving, human activity underwater for recreational or occupational purposes Diving or Dive may also refer to: Sports * Dive (American football), a ...

, and high diving, which took place from 15 to 20 December 2021 on Yas Island in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

."Abu Dhabi Aquatics Festival is revealed!"
'' FINA''. 8 September 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.De George, Matthew (8 September 2021)
"FINA Reveals Aquatics Festival in Abu Dhabi, Expanded Scholarship Program"
'' Swimming World''. Retrieved 15 December 2021. It was held correspondent to the 2021 FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships.Penland, Spencer (8 September 2021)
"FINA Announces "Aquatics Festival" That Will Run Parallel To SC World Champs"
''

SwimSwam ''SwimSwam'' news is a swimming news organization covering competitive swimming along with diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. SwimSwam launched as a website in March 2012 and quickly became the most-read swimming website in the world. ...

''. Retrieved 15 December 2021. The festival was the first time competitions in the three disciplines are being conducted at the same time as and in conjunction with a FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships."Stage is set for 15th FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) as FINA Aquatics Festival gets underway in Abu Dhabi"
'' FINA''. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021. In addition to sporting competitions, an interactive village is being provided for festival attendees."Exclusive First-Look Images Of FINA World Swimming Championships (25M) Main Pool Revealed To Celebrate 50-Day Countdown"
''Abu Dhabi Sports Council''. 28 October 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021. Coverage of the aquatics festival on television and via online streaming was provided on six continents with news agencies including

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

(Americas), SuperSport (Africa), and beIN Sports (Asia) providing international coverage of the high diving competitions."Where to Watch Guide , FINA Abu Dhabi 2021"
'' FINA''. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021. A press conference to welcome athletes and attendees following the 4×1500 metre relay open water swimming event on 15 December served as the official start of the festival.Mohamed, Hatem; Bashir, Hassan (15 December 2021)
"Stage set as UAE's talented swimmers join world's best aquatic talent for FINA world swimming championships, aquatics festival Tuesday"
'' Emirates News Agency''. Retrieved 17 December 2021. FINA (15 December 2021)
"FINA Swimming World Championships (25m) 2021 - Press Conference"
''

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

''. Retrieved 17 December 2021. The second day of the festival, Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the House of Nahyan attended the festival and the opening ceremony of the 2021 World Swimming Championships to express his support of the athletes and the importance of the global events in the sustainable growth and development of local sports culture."His Highness Sheikh Nahyan bin Zayed Al Nahyan attends the opening ceremony of FINA World Swimming Championships (25m)"
'' Abu Dhabi 2021''. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021. On 17 December, FINA hosted an aquatics gala where it announced the recipients of its annual FINA Athletes of the Year and Coaches of the Year awards."Aquatics stars honoured at FINA World Aquatics Gala"
'' FINA''. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021. Approximately 200 athletes competed in the events held as part of the festival."Spectacular FINA World Swimming Championships (25m) and FINA Aquatics Festival conclude as aquatics sport embarks on new era"
'' FINA''. 21 December 2021. Retrieved 21 December 2021. The second edition of the Aquatics Festival was announced in February 2023, with a change of location to multiple venues in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

and rotating the sports included to water polo, open water swimming (part of the 2023 FINA Open Water Tour), and artistic swimming.Koos, Torin (21 February 2023)
"World Aquatics reveals exciting Egypt Aquatics Festival for May 2023"
''

World Aquatics FINA (french: Fédération internationale de natation, en, International Swimming Federation, link=yes) (to be renamed as World Aquatics by ) is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administer ...

''. Retrieved 1 April 2023.

Open water swimming

Open water swimming competitions took place in Yas Bay as part the grand finale of the 2021 FINA Marathon Swim World Series from 15 to 16 December 2021."FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series 2021 - Grand Finale: Overview"
'' FINA''. Retrieved 15 December 2021. In addition to the standard 10 kilometre open water marathon events held in the World Series on 16 December, FINA debuted a mixed gender 4×1500 metre relay event on 15 December."Italy wins inaugural Open Water Mixed Team Relay in Abu Dhabi"
'' FINA''. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021.Byrnes, Liz (15 December 2021)
"Gregorio Paltrinieri Steers Italy To Victory in Mixed Open Water Relay In Abu Dhabi"
'' Swimming World''. Retrieved 15 December 2021. It was the first time the relay event was held at any FINA competition.

Diving

A FINA team diving exhibition was scheduled for 19 and 20 December and consisted of a mixed gender team event with dives from a 10 metre platform as well as a 3 metre springboard."FINA World Short Course: What's On?"
''

British Swimming British Swimming is the national governing body of swimming, water polo, synchronised swimming, diving and open water in Great Britain.

''. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021."Chinese Olympic champions to compete in FINA World Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi"
''

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

''. 7 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021. It was the first FINA-hosted diving mixed team event to be conducted in open water."Brazil leads through first day of the FINA Diving Team Exhibition"
'' FINA''. 19 December 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2021.

Teams

Diving began at 10:15 on 19 December with dives one to three on the 19th (day one), dives four to six on the 20th (day two), and the following teams competing."FINA Diving Team Exhibition: Results"
'' FINA''. Retrieved 19 December 2021.

High diving

The 2021 FINA high diving qualifier was held on 19 and 20 December as the final world qualifying event for two events to be held at the

2022 World Aquatics Championships The 2022 World Aquatics Championships, the 19th edition of the FINA World Aquatics Championships, were held in Budapest, Hungary, from 17 June to 3 July 2022. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, FINA banned both the Russian an ...

. Women competed in a 20 metre event with prelims on 19 December and finals on 20 December."Noles Ready for World Championships"
''

Florida State Seminoles The Florida State Seminoles are the athletic teams representing Florida State University located in Tallahassee, Florida. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level (Football Bowl Subdivis ...

''. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2021. Men competed in a 27 metre event with prelims on 19 December and finals the following day."FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021: Schedule"
'' FINA''. Retrieved 15 December 2021. Twenty-six high divers, fourteen men and twelve women, had their results from the competition serve as their qualification for the 2022 World Aquatics Championships."Aidan Heslop claims title at the FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021 in Abu Dhabi"
'' FINA''. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021."Australia's Rhiannan Iffland claims gold at the FINA High Diving Qualifier"
'' FINA''. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021."High Diver Heslop Strikes Gold For World Champs Qualification"
''

British Swimming British Swimming is the national governing body of swimming, water polo, synchronised swimming, diving and open water in Great Britain.

''. 20 December 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2021. In February 2022, FINA removed high diving from the 2022 World Aquatics Championships program, due to a change of location from

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

and a lack of infrastructure in the new host location to conduct high diving competition, thus invalidating the qualifications achieved. FINA (6 February 2022)
"Budapest awarded with extraordinary FINA World Championships!"
''

''. Retrieved 7 September 2022. Four male divers had their results confirm their place as permanent divers in the 2022 Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, three of whom it was the first time achieving permanent diver status.Magill, Chris (21 December 2021)
"Confirmed: the cliff divers who made the cut for 2022"
''

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

''. Retrieved 31 January 2022.Magill, Chris (6 April 2022)
"Meet the Red Bull Cliff Diving athletes going for glory in 2022"
''

''. Retrieved 7 September 2022. The highest degree of difficulty dive in history, a 6.2 degree of difficulty, was executed by

Aidan Heslop Aidan Heslop (born 18 April 2002) is a British diver and high diver who competes internationally representing Wales and Great Britain. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games he competed representing Wales, finishing 6th in the 10 metre platform and 1 ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Participating countries

A total of 50 athletes from 20 countries competed in the high diving events. FINA (18 December 2021)
"FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Women's High Dive Rounds 1-2 Dive List"
''

Omega Timing Omega SA is a Swiss luxury watchmaker based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland. Founded by Louis Brandt in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1848, the company formerly operated as ''La Generale Watch Co.'' until incorporating the name ''Omega'' in 1903, becoming ' ...

''. Retrieved 19 December 2021. FINA (18 December 2021)
"FINA High Diving Qualifier 2021 Abu Dhabi (UAE): Men's High Dive Rounds 1-2 Dive List"
''

''. Retrieved 19 December 2021. * (2) * (1) * (2) * (3) * (2) * (1) * (2) * (4) * (3) * (2) * (1) * (3) * (1) * (2) * (2) * (4) * (3) * (2) * (4) * (6)

References

{{reflist

External links

Marathon Swim World Series: Grand Finale event information

Team Diving Exhibition event information

High Diving Qualifier event information
2021 in water sports 2021 in Emirati sport International aquatics competitions hosted by the United Arab Emirates Sport in Abu Dhabi December 2021 sports events in the United Arab Emirates