What is finswimming?
Finswimming is competitive swimming with fins — above all the monofin, a single dolphin-like blade that makes it the fastest form of human swimming, well quicker than any Olympic freestyler. Races are held on the surface with snorkel, underwater in apnoea (one breath), in immersion with breathing apparatus, and in conventional bi-fins.[1] [2]
How does finswimming work?
Pool events run from 50 to 1,500 meters plus relays, with open-water events beside them, under CMAS rules — world records, doping control and officiating parallel to mainstream swimming. Athletes are selected for major games from the CMAS World Ranking, built on World Championships and World Cup results.[2] [3]
What are finswimming's origins?
The sport grew out of postwar European diving clubs; CMAS codified it in the 1960s, the first World Championships followed in the 1970s, and finswimming has been a core sport of the World Games since the inaugural 1981 edition in Santa Clara, California.[1] [4]
Where is finswimming popular?
Its strongholds are Russia and Eastern Europe, China, Korea, Colombia — a South American power with a deep medal tradition — plus Italy, France, Germany, Hungary and Greece; the U.S. scene is small but organized under the CMAS umbrella.[2] [4]
Who governs finswimming?
CMAS, the World Underwater Federation, governs finswimming worldwide through its 139 member federations — the same body that sets recreational diver training standards and governs the other underwater sports. National federations select teams for CMAS championships and the World Games.[2] [3]
What are the most important competitions in finswimming?
- CMAS Finswimming World Championships — the sport's world titles, seniors biennial with junior and masters editions between.[3]
- The CMAS World Cup — annual rounds feeding the world rankings.[3]
- The World Games — finswimming's flagship multi-sport stage since 1981.[4]
- Continental championships and the FISU World University Championship in finswimming.[3]
How is finswimming awarded?
- World records — ratified by CMAS across every event and course.[2]
- The CMAS World Ranking — the objective ladder that selects World Games fields.[3]
- Championship medals at Worlds, World Cup rounds, continentals and the World Games.[4]
- National-team selection by CMAS member federations — the sport's membership credential.[2]
Finswimming and mainstream swimming
The sports are cousins: finswimmers train in the same pools, and monofin technique has shaped the underwater dolphin kick that decides modern swimming races. Finswimming remains outside the Olympic program — the World Games is its summit — which is precisely why CMAS documentation matters when the sport's athletes need their standing verified.[1] [2]
Who has won the most in finswimming?
The world federation publishes no consolidated all-time list, only a results book per championship, so what follows is the 2026 world indoor championships at Incheon — one edition, tallied from the federation's own final results book, with the overall table and the men's and women's tables shown separately. The row at the top, CMAS1, is the federation's neutral designation, carried against Russian and Belarusian competitors throughout its results book, and it is kept exactly as the federation counts it — worth noticing beside the sambo page, because this championship was swum in June 2026, six months after the sambo federation had retired its own neutral designation.
Medal table at the 2026 CMAS World Indoor Finswimming Championships — one edition, Incheon
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CMAS1 | 12 | 8 | 8 | 28 |
| 2 | Republic of Korea | 7 | 5 | 5 | 17 |
| 3 | Hungary | 9 | 4 | 1 | 14 |
| 4 | China | 5 | 5 | 4 | 14 |
| 5 | Ukraine | 1 | 5 | 7 | 13 |
| 6 | Colombia | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 7 | France | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | Poland | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 | Italy | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 10 | Germany | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Medal table at the 2026 CMAS World Indoor Finswimming Championships — men, one edition
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Republic of Korea | 7 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| 2 | Hungary | 6 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| 3 | CMAS1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 8 |
| 4 | Ukraine | 0 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 5 | China | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 6 | France | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 7 | Poland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Colombia | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9= | Italy | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 9= | Türkiye | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 11= | Germany | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 11= | Vietnam | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Medal table at the 2026 CMAS World Indoor Finswimming Championships — women, one edition
| Rank | Country | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CMAS1 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 18 |
| 2 | China | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
| 3 | Ukraine | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 |
| 4 | Hungary | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | Republic of Korea | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 6 | Colombia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 7 | Italy | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 8 | Chinese Taipei | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 9 | Germany | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 10 | Greece | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Medal lists rank on total medals, then gold, then silver; title lists rank on titles. Equal totals are separated by golds, then silvers, and every table states the period it covers — several of these federations publish no all-time record, so some tables are a single championship and say so. Verified September 2026.[5] [6] [7]
References
- Finswimmer Magazine — finswimming news. Accessed August 2026.
- CMAS — official site. Accessed August 2026.
- CMAS — Finswimming events & calendar. Accessed August 2026.
- IWGA — Underwater sports at the World Games. Accessed August 2026.
- CMAS — 2026 World Indoor Finswimming Championships, final results book. Accessed September 2026.
- CMAS — finswimming results. Accessed September 2026.
- CMAS — 2026 world championships medal standings. Accessed September 2026.