Sports
Long-distance swimmer pursues triple crown
Marty Filipowski to tackle 20 bridges race in mid-Aug.
Marty Filipowski crossing the Rottnest Channel with his husband, Sonny, paddling alongside him. (Photo courtesy Filipowski)
To gain membership into the triple crown of open-water swimming, one must have authenticated completion of three famous marathon swims: the English Channel between England and France, the Catalina Channel in Southern California and the Manhattan Island marathon swim.
On Aug. 15, 53-year-old openly gay marathon swimmer Marty Filipowski will attempt to complete the triple crown when he swims 20 bridges, a circumnavigation swim of Manhattan that is 28.5 miles in distance.
Jewel number one
In August 2013, his crossing of the English Channel was 31 miles in rough water that was 59 degrees. He was the only swimmer to finish the crossing that day and he was awarded the most meritorious swim of the year by the Channel Swimming Association. His time was 14 hours, 39 minutes.
“The English Channel swim absolutely changed me in terms of how I approach my life, work and swimming,” Filipowski says. “Everything takes a great plan, and you have to have initiatives step by step to complete your plan.”
Filipowski grew up in Valparaiso, Ind., and was in competitive swimming until his sophomore year of high school. He left the sport because he felt he didn’t fit in and turned his extracurricular attentions to working as the yearbook photographer.
After graduating with a degree in journalism from Indiana University, his work took him to several states including a stint in D.C. as press secretary for U.S. Sen. Connie Mack of Florida.
He credits the LGBT swimming community for getting him back into the sport as he swam with Atlanta Rainbow Trout and Team New York Aquatics during his work assignments. He is now living in Sydney, Australia and has been with Dell since 2006 working as corporate director of communications for Asia Pacific and Japan.
It was after he joined Vladswim in Sydney that he became interested in marathon swimming. Its members train four days a week in the pool and longer open-water swims on weekends.
“Vladswim had people training for triathlons and open-water swimming so I started competing in Sunday races in distances of 1.5K to 10K,” Filipowski says. “There were also people training for the English Channel and I figured if they could do it, so could I.”
He started his marathon training in 2011 and during his first attempt at an eight hour training swim in 59 degree water, he was pulled out at four-and-a-half hours. It was a lesson that led to Filipowski working with a dietician to add weight, becoming more comfortable training in cold water, adopting feeding plans and working with a massage therapist.
“You are able to train all year long in Sydney, but you really need a good support network to accomplish the training needed for a marathon swim,” he says. “There are time management issues as well and that support extends to my boss at work and my husband at home.”
Jewel number two
He picked up the second piece of the crown by completing the 22-mile Catalina Channel in August, 2015. His training for that race included a lot of practicing at night as half the swim was completed in the dark.
A constant in the journey to complete both the English Channel and the Catalina Channel was Filipowski’s husband, Sonny, who paddles alongside him in a kayak. The two were married at Alki Beach in Seattle following the English Channel crossing.
“During the lead-up to the English Channel, Sonny kayaked alongside me during all my long open-water training swims,” Filipowski says. “He also did the same as I trained for Catalina and also during the actual swim. He spent 13 hours in the kayak for that crossing.”
Jewel number three and beyond
Filipowski won’t be hanging up his suit after he completes the Manhattan swim next month. While traveling the world working for Dell, he will continue to train at pools in China, India, Singapore and Japan along with pool and ocean training in Australia.
Next year, he will attempt to cross Cook Strait in New Zealand which is about 14 miles wide and considered one of the most dangerous and unpredictable waters in the world.
“I love being a marathon swimmer because you are swimming against yourself and the water conditions all while pushing through mental barriers,” Filipowski says. “It gives me balance between my work and my personal satisfaction.”
He also identifies himself as an “out” swimmer when he receives recognition for his swims.
“I like being a visible gay athlete,” Filipowski says. “It would have been helpful to have a role model when I was growing up. I want to be visible to others.”
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are expected to compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics that open on Friday.
Outsports.com notes eight Americans — including speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy and figure skater Amber Glenn — are among the 44 openly LGBTQ athletes who will compete in the games. The LGBTQ sports website also reports Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, is the first openly transgender athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics.
“I’ve always been physically capable. That was never a question,” Glenn told Outsports.com. “It was always a mental and competence problem. It was internal battles for so long: when to lean into my strengths and when to work on my weaknesses, when to finally let myself portray the way I am off the ice on the ice. That really started when I came out publicly.”
McDermott-Mostowy is among the six athletes who have benefitted from the Out Athlete Fund, a group that has paid for their Olympics-related training and travel. The other beneficiaries are freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, speed skater Brittany Bowe, snowboarder Maddy Schaffrick, alpine skier Breezy Johnson, and Paralympic Nordic skier Jake Adicoff.
Out Athlete Fund and Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood on Friday will host a free watch party for the opening ceremony.
“When athletes feel seen and accepted, they’re free to focus on their performance, not on hiding who they are,” Haley Caruso, vice president of the Out Athlete Fund’s board of directors, told the Los Angeles Blade.
Four Italian LGBTQ advocacy groups — Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano — have organized the games’ Pride House that will be located at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan.
Pride House on its website notes it will “host a diverse calendar of events and activities curated by associations, activists, and cultural organizations that share the values of Pride” during the games. These include an opening ceremony party at which Checcoro, Milan’s first LGBTQ chorus, will perform.
ILGA World, which is partnering with Pride House, is the co-sponsor of a Feb. 21 event that will focus on LGBTQ-inclusion in sports. Valentina Petrillo, a trans Paralympian, is among those will participate in a discussion that Simone Alliva, a journalist who writes for the Italian newspaper Domani, will moderate.
“The event explores inclusivity in sport — including amateur levels — with a focus on transgender people, highlighting the role of civil society, lived experiences, and the voices of athletes,” says Milano Pride on its website.
The games will take place against the backdrop of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee’s decision to ban trans women from competing in women’s sporting events.
President Donald Trump last February issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S. A group of Republican lawmakers in response to the directive demanded the International Olympics Committee ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
The IOC in 2021 adopted its “Framework on Fairness, Inclusion and Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity and Sex Variations” that includes the following provisions:
• 3.1 Eligibility criteria should be established and implemented fairly and in a manner that does not systematically exclude athletes from competition based upon their gender identity, physical appearance and/or sex variations.
• 3.2 Provided they meet eligibility criteria that are consistent with principle 4 (“Fairness”, athletes should be allowed to compete in the category that best aligns with their self-determined gender identity.
• 3.3 Criteria to determine disproportionate competitive advantage may, at times, require testing of an athlete’s performance and physical capacity. However, no athlete should be subject to targeted testing because of, or aimed at determining, their sex, gender identity and/or sex variations.
The 2034 Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place in Salt Lake City. The 2028 Summer Olympics will occur in Los Angeles.
Sports
‘Heated Rivalry’ stars to participate in Olympic torch relay
Games to take place next month in Italy
“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie will participate in the Olympic torch relay ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics that will take place next month in Italy.
HBO Max, which distributes “Heated Rivalry” in the U.S., made the announcement on Thursday in a press release.
The games will take place in Milan and Cortina from Feb. 6-22. The HBO Max announcement did not specifically say when Williams and Storrie will participate in the torch relay.
The Washington Capitals will host Pride Night on Saturday, Jan. 17, when they host the Florida Panthers at Capital One Arena. A special ticket offer featuring a Pride-themed Capitals rainbow jersey is available at washcaps.com.
Fans are invited to a pre-game Block Party at District E beginning at 5 p.m. The event will feature a performance by the band NovaKane. Specialty happy hour food and beverages will be available, as well as giveaways. There will also be a presence by several local LGBTQ+ community organizations.
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