List of Swimming World Swimmers of the Year
Open Water Swimmers of the Year

Year
Female Winner
Nationality
Male Winner
Nationality
2005
Edith van Dijk
Netherlands
Thomas Lurz Chip Peterson
Germany United States
2006
Larisa Ilchenko
Russia
Thomas Lurz
Germany
2007
Larisa Ilchenko
Russia
Vladimir Dyatchin
Russia
2008
Larisa Ilchenko
Russia
Maarten van der Weijden
Netherlands
2009
Keri-Anne Payne
United Kingdom
Thomas Lurz
Germany
2010
Martina Grimaldi
Italy
Valerio Cleri
Italy
2011
Keri-Anne Payne
United Kingdom
Thomas Lurz Spyridon Gianniotis
Germany Greece
2012
Éva Risztov
Hungary
Oussama Mellouli
Tunisia
2013
Poliana Okimoto
Brazil
Thomas Lurz
Germany
2014
Sharon van Rouwendaal
Netherlands
Andrew Gemmell
United States
2015
Aurélie Muller
France
Jordan Wilimovsky
United States
2016
Sharon van Rouwendaal
Netherlands
Ferry Weertman
Netherlands
2017
Aurélie Muller
France
Ferry Weertman
Netherlands
2018
Sharon van Rouwendaal
Netherlands
Kristof Rasovszky
Hungary

Question: Who are the most successful men and women swimmers of the Open Water Swimmers of the Year?
Answer: Thomas Lurz of Germany has won the Open Water Swimmers of the Year award five times, triumphing in 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2013, while Russia's Larisa Ilchenko has won three years in a row (2006–2008).