Pictured: Brennan Gravley

The open water portion of the 2022 FINA World Championships kicked off Sunday morning at the Lupa Beach in Budapest with the mixed 4x1500m freestyle relay, where the U.S. finished in seventh place. 

The U.S. sent out Mariah Denigan (Walton, Ky./Indiana University), Bella Sims (Las Vegas, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada), Brennan Gravley (Las Vegas, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada/University of Florida) and Charlie Clark (Sandusky, Ohio/The Ohio State University/Vacationland Swim Club). Three out of the four Americans—Denigan, Sims and Clark—were making their FINA World Open Water Championships debuts, while the two teenagers in Denigan (19) and Sims (17) made the U.S. the lone team in the top-10 to feature two teens.

“I was super excited going into it,” said Denigan, who led off the relay for the U.S. “Any opportunity to compete for Team USA, especially an extra time (in addition to individual events), is super special. The start was a little rough, these girls can be a little rough in these international events, but I feel like I had a really good split and feel like I got us off to a good start.”

The U.S. found itself in sixth at the end of the first lap when Denigan handed the swim over to Sims. Over the next two laps, Sims and Gravley cycled through the middle of the pack, hovering from seventh spot to 13th. Following Clark’s anchor leg, the U.S. finished seventh out of the 19 nations who finished.

“It was a great experience,” Clark said. “It’s a lot of fun to come out here and race open water. I train open water all the time back at home, so this is an incredible opportunity to come out here and race with the best. I never thought I would get to say that I was on a Team USA relay. As soon as I was asked if I wanted to be on this relay, I was all in on for it.”

The U.S. has now finished inside the top-10 in every team relay event since the event was added to the FINA World Open Water Championships schedule in 2011. 

“It is always a pleasure to be a part of Team USA and to represent our country, but also the relay is a lot of fun in open water,” Gravley said. “It is a chance for us to sprint and turn our gears in this type of situation. We have a really young team and we pushed very well today against a lot of veterans. It was cool to have Bella and Charlie coming off their Worlds performance (in the pool). It is a tough turnaround to come here and do this event, but I think we did really well.

“We have a lot of committed young individuals who want to do open water for the long term and I think they are making a great investment. To come in here and fight for this relay and fight through the week we have ahead, I think we have a lot of strength. I’m excited to see if I, and the rest of the team, can help pull each other to the next level.”

The competition continues tomorrow with the men’s 5K beginning at 3 a.m. ET followed by the women at 6 a.m. ET.