The winners of the Dhiraagu Male' Open 2026 swimming competition have been presented with their prizes after the tournament came to a successful close.
Organized by Swim Maldives, the event aimed to promote open water swimming, encourage greater participation in the sport and raise awareness of the importance of protecting the Maldives’ marine environment.
More than 420 swimmers took part in this year's event, making it the biggest open water swimming competition in Male'.
Participants competed in 1km, 500m and 250m races, with swimmers aged from six to 79. The broad age range highlighted the inclusive nature of the competition and growing interest in open water swimming among people of different ages and experience levels. This year’s event also introduced a new 500m team relay, allowing friends, families and swimming clubs to compete together.
The Top Female Athlete in this year's tournament was named Ayesha Zahah Hussain. The Top Male Athlete was Ibrahim Yuaan Shameem. The Maldives Lifeguard Association (MLA) was named the Top Swimming Club.
The Female First Place for the 1km Category was claimed by Meral Ayn Latheef, with second place going to Alya Ashraf and third place going to Aishath Aleena Shahid.
For the same category, the Male First Place was won by Ibrahim Yuaan Shameem. Yoosuf Ziyaan Zahid came in second and Izyan Nazim took third place.
For the 500m category, Ayesha Zayah Hussain took Female First Place, with second being claimed by Fathimah Layya’h Shahid and third place by Aishath Aishka Sameer.
In the same category, Ibrahim Yuaan Shameem was named Male First Place. Second place was claimed by Mohamed Aran Shameem and third place was won by Nouman Mohamed Naseef.
Dhiraagu said that this year's tournament made it clear that people are interested and welcome open water swimming competitions. They said that 2025 saw 350 participants and highlighted that this year saw 420 participants. Dhiraagu also said that young swimmers with potential and experienced swimmers took part in this year's competition.
