Türki̇ye Açik Su Yüzme Şampi̇yonasi (14+) Ve Mi̇lli̇ Takim Seçme Yarişmalari

In Antalya, along Turkey's southwestern Mediterranean shore, the Turkish Swimming Federation convenes the Türki̇ye Açik Su Yüzme Şampi̇yonasi (14+) Ve Mi̇lli̇ Takim Seçme Yarişmalari. This high-stakes event brings together the country's leading distance swimmers for the official national open water championship and the crucial selection trials for the national team. Against the backdrop of open sea, the competition transforms the city's signature beach into a showcase of elite endurance swimming. Competitors take to the water across two premier marathon distances: a grueling 5-kilometre contest and an exhaustive 10-kilometre Olympic-distance race. Because this regatta acts as an official gateway to international national team squads, entry is not open to all casual swimmers. Every swimmer lining up on the stones of Konyaaltı must meet stringent qualifying performance benchmarks established by the regulations of the Turkish Swimming Federation. Once the starter horn sounds, athletes charge through the breaking surf into deep, buoyant sea water, settling into the demanding rhythm of championship pace.

The Antalya championship: the 2025 edition and Konyaaltı water

The Turkish Open Water Swimming Championship (14+) and national team selection races were held in Antalya on 22-25 April 2025. The 2025 programme in Antalya doubled as national team selection for the European Open Water Championships at Stari Grad, the World Championships in Singapore and the European Juniors at Setubal. Konyaaltı Beach lies on the western side of Antalya and stretches for 13 km, primarily fine pebbles with some sand. Konyaaltı Beach has Blue Flag status, listed on its Wikipedia page alongside its clear water. At Konyaaltı the April sea temperature ranges from 16°C (61 °F) to 21°C (70 °F) with an average of 18°C (64 °F), according to historical data.

From King Attalus to Hıdırlık Tower: the ancient naval harbour

The waters offshore from the race venue carry more than two millennia of maritime history. Antalya itself traces its origin to approximately 150 BC, when King Attalus II of Pergamon founded the coastal settlement as an essential naval outpost for his royal fleet. Standing on the southwest corner of the ancient fortification walls, less than a kilometre from the race area, the second-century Hıdırlık Tower still anchors the skyline. The tower served as a lighthouse guiding ships through choppy seas and as an alert watchtower scanning the horizon for incoming vessels entering the bay. Maritime life remained central to Antalya throughout subsequent empires. During the Byzantine period, the fortified port rose to become the capital of the Theme of the Cibyrrhaeots, operating as the preeminent naval base along the southern shores of Anatolia.

By the fourteenth century, international commerce shaped the waterfront, with foreign Christian merchants living and trading from a segregated, walled-off section of the harbor quarter known as the Mina. Even centuries later, records from 1920 described the historic harbor as small and dangerously exposed to severe winter gales, reminding mariners and swimmers alike of the untamed force of the Mediterranean.

Olbia and Sıçan Islet: ancient defenses along the western shore

The western fringe of the bay preserves memories of frontier settlements that guarded ancient Pamphylia. Around four kilometres from the race venue, in the Arapsuyu neighbourhood of the modern Konyaaltı district, archaeologists identified the remains of Olbia. Olbia served as the westernmost coastal settlement in the region, established in an exposed position between the ports of Phaselis and Attaleia according to the classical geographer Ptolemy. The geographer Strabo highlighted its military character, describing Olbia as a strong, fortified bastion whose residents possessed the maritime strength to colonize the Lycian town of Cadrema. About five kilometres from the race area lay Tenedos, another fortified Pamphylian settlement situated twenty stadia to the west of Attalia.

Sıçan Islet is situated less than one hundred metres off the Anatolian mainland. The eastern flank of the islet plunges into the sea in a dramatic, sheer cliff. Ancient seafarers called the islet Lyrnateia or Lyrnatia, while the Romans knew it as Attelebussa, and medieval Italian mariners charted it as Renathia. In the seventeenth century, Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi identified it as Güvercin and Kuş.

Lower Düden Waterfall and Lara Beach: east of the bay

The stream feeding the Upper Düden Waterfall re-emerges from a karstic source after disappearing eighteen kilometres upstream into the Bıyıklı Sinkhole. The water flows onward until reaching the Düden Waterfalls, where the Lower Düden torrent crashes forty metres over the cliffs directly into the open Mediterranean. Around nine kilometres from the race area, near modern Lara, archaeological remains mark the site of ancient Magydus, a coastal settlement that once stood between Attaleia and Perga. Further east, around fourteen kilometres from the race course near the mouth of the ancient Cestrus River, lay the Roman coastal town of Rhoscopus, positioned just east of Magydus. This eastern coast is also home to Lara Beach, which alongside Konyaaltı and Karpuzkaldıran makes up the city's primary seaside perimeter. The name Lara traces back to the ancient Luwian tongue, meaning sand, perfectly describing one of the longest continuous sand beaches in Turkey.

Muratpaşa cliffs and Konserve cove: swimming from the platforms

Mean sea temperatures across the bay range from brisk and refreshing during the winter to delightfully warm at the height of the summer heat. Below the central cliffs of the Muratpaşa district, where cliffs meet the turquoise sea, bathers access the water not via sloping sands, but through sunbathing platforms perched against the rocks. These platforms—some operated by seafront hotels and others run as public terraces—allow swimmers to step straight off the ladders into deep, crystalline Mediterranean water. Among the hidden swimming enclaves is Konserve Public Beach, a compact sixty-metre beach. The seabed here consists of rounded pebbles and submerged boulders, where clear underwater visibility lets swimmers glide over rocks populated by darting coastal fish and wandering crabs.