See main article: FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships.
The 2nd FINA Open Water Swimming World Championships were held September 23-28, 2002 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The championships featured 89 swimmers from 26 countries competing in 6 races:
| Women's 5K details | Viola Valli  Italy | 56:52 | Edith van Dijk Netherlands | 57:01 | Hanna Miluska Switzerland | 58:13 |
| Men's 5K details | Luca Baldini Italy | 51:49.78 | Stefano Rubando Italy | 51:51.20 | Thomas Lurz Germany | 51:52.43 |
| Women's 10K details | Britta Kamrau Germany | 1:56:42.25 | Viola Valli Italy | 1:56:42.28 | Angela Maurer Germany | 1:56:49 |
| Men's 10K details | Ivgueni Kochkarov  Russia | 1:49:30 | Simone Ercoli Italy | 1:49:34 | Vladimir Dyatchin Russia | 1:49:35 |
| Women's 25K details | Edith van Dijk Netherlands | 6:11:21 | Angela Maurer Germany | 6:11:22.43 | Britta Kamrau Germany | 6:11:22.70 |
| Men's 25K details | Yuri Kudinov Russia | 5:39:14 | Anton Sanatchev Russia | 5:41:14 | Gabriel Chaillou  Argentina | 5:51:16 |
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FINA's history of open water swimming events.