FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships

The FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships, or more commonly "Open Water Worlds", was a bi-annual FINA championship for open water swimming held in even years from 2000 to 2010, inclusive. Race distances were 5, 10, and 25 kilometers (also known as 5K, 10K, and 25K).
The 10 km race at the 2008 edition served as the main qualifying event for the 2008 Olympics 10 km event.
Editions.
Twelve editions was part of the World Aquatics Championships, and six edition was "stand alone" editions. From 2011 the biannual event is included only into the World Aquatics Championships.
Stand alone editions.
The Open Water Worlds were held in the years between the FINA's main World Championships, providing an annual championships for Open Water Swimming. At its January 2010 meeting, the FINA Bureau decided that to replace this event with a junior (18 and under) championships, making the 2010 Open Water Worlds the last edition of these championships, and 2012 seeing the first of a Junior Open Water Worlds.
Multiple medalists.
The best swimmers: