Crippen will compete in the men's 10k and 5k and Fabian will compete in the same events on the women's side. In addition to Crippen, the men's roster will also feature 2005 10k Open Water World Champion Chip Peterson (Pine Knoll Shores, N.C.), and Open Water National Team members Alex Meyer (Ithaca, N.Y.) and Joe Kinderwater (Lancaster, Pa.). The women's side also includes National Team members Haley Anderson (Granite Bay, Calif.), Emily Hanson (Bloomington, Ill.) and Christine Jennings (Longmont, Colo.). A full roster can be found online here.
All swimmers qualified for the event based on their finishes at the 2010 USA Swimming Open Water National Championships. The top two finishers in the men's and women's 10K races automatically qualified for the World Championship team, while the rest of the roster was filled out by other top finishers. In the case where the top finisher declined the invitation, the spot was given to the next-highest finisher.
Mike Gobrecht (Camp Hill, Pa.) will serve as the head coach for the open water squad in Roberval. Gobrecht has been a coach with the West Shore YMCA since 1989. He was head coach at the 2009 FINA Open Water 10K World Cup in Roberval, Quebec, Canada and coached the West Shore YMCA to the women's national YMCA title (long course) in 2008. In addition, Gobrecht has served as an assistant coach at the Junior Pan Pacs in 2007, the FINA World Youth Games in 2006, and at several national select camps.
Also named to the staff today were Lakeside Aquatic Club coach Shannon Gillespy, who will serve as team manager, and Paul Asmuth, who will serve as special assistant to the National Team head coach.
The event in Roberval will look to host up to 40 countries and as many as 150 swimmers. The swimmers will compete for the "2010 Open Water Swimming World Champion" title in the 5K, 10K and 25K open water race. Each race takes place over a 2.5k closed-circuit loop near shore with two feeding pontoons installed over the length of the course.