Glenview Olympian Takes 1st Place in 1-Mile Chicago River Swim Race

For the first time in 98 years, the Chicago River was filled with competitive swimmers on Sunday, September 21, as the Chicago River Swim made a triumphant return, marking a historic milestone for the city and drawing hundreds of swimmers, civic leaders, and spectators to the heart of downtown. The event, produced by the nonprofit A Long Swim, celebrated decades of environmental progress while raising $150,000 for ALS research at the Ozdinler Lab of Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine and swim-safety education programs at the Salvation Army Kroc Center.
Olivia Smoliga, a two-time Olympian from Glenview who finished her one-mile race in first place, said the opportunity was too historic to pass up. “I felt ecstatic to be part of history,” said Smoliga. “I think it definitely will change the way that people see the river. Truthfully, whenever we’d do a boat tour — hey, I’m ready to jump in it. I want to jump in, always, so the fact that I was able to do it and Chicago cleaned up the river is so nice.”
Smoliga won eight gold medals at the 2018 World Championship. She is the Guinness World Record holder for most gold medals won in a single FINA World Championship. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro she won a medal for the backstroke leg in the preliminary heat of the 4x100 meter medley relay.
Early Sunday, waves of open water swimmers dove into the river’s main stem, swimming from the Dearborn Street bridge to Wolf Point and back to the Clark Street bridge. Spectators watched the one- and two-mile swims from the riverwalk. Dressed in bathrobes, waves of swimmers lined the riverwalk between the Clark and Dearborn Street bridges shortly after morning light broke. They stripped to their bathing suits and, to the cheers and hoots of onlookers, jumped in. Doug McConnell, co-founder of event organizer and nonprofit A Long Swim, shook hands and shared hugs with those waiting to swim.
Over 300 became some of the first people to swim in the waterway again after almost a century. It was the culmination of an event more than a decade in the making, raising $100,000 for research into ALS, a fatal neurological disorder known also as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and celebrating the river’s recovery from its polluted past. Aaron Gabriel of Palatine, who is a lifelong friend of race organizer Doug McConnell, swam in the two-mile race. “Doug is an incredible friend and I am honored to help him with the ALS research and completely delighted to have helped restore Chicago's River Swim tradition,” said Gabriel. Gabriel, who swims with a masters team based at the Beuhler YMCA in Palatine five times a week, found the 74-degree water “definitely warmer than I would have liked but very comfortable for most.”
The Chicago River is the cleanest it has been in a long time, continuing a trend since the Clean Water Act of the early 1970s. In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency declared the river safe for swimming. Today, the waterway is home to a thriving economy and restored wildlife, including migratory birds, beavers and turtles, as well as almost 70 species of fish — up from fewer than 10 in the 1970s. Margaret Frisbie, executive director of advocacy nonprofit Friends of the Chicago River, said she felt proud of the waterway’s bounce-back. Earlier this month, the organization received a global award — the Thiess International River Prize — in recognition of its work to restore the 156-mile Chicago-Calumet River system.
Despite progress, organizers took safety precautions, including daily monitoring three weeks before the event for fecal coliform bacteria to ensure it met federal standards. Abhilasha Shrestha, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, led a team testing river water in the weeks leading up to the event to determine if it was safe to swim.
The swim meet, which raised $150,000 to support ALS research and youth swim education, was extremely well organized and ran smoothly with plenty of volunteers. There were four two-mile waves (heats) and four one-mile waves, each consisting of approximately 40 swimmers. The river was filled with volunteers in small boats to help in case of an emergency, with Chicago Police boats nearby. About a thousand swim fans watched from the river’s bridges along W. Wacker Drive.
In the two-mile race, Homer Glen native Becca Mann, 27, crossed the finish line first, followed closely by Isaac Eilmes of Colorado Springs and Luke Maurer of Chicago. In the one-mile swim, top finishers included Levy Nathan of Chicago, Olivia Smoliga of Tempe, Arizona, and Ryan Goble of Oswego. Maurer of Wilmette said the water was better than he expected. “I was a little nervous but the temperature was good and it felt clean - it was nice,” said Maurer. Wilmette resident Sarah Rainey loved the unique perspective. “It’s a different type of architecture tour,” Rainey said. “I’m just excited to do it. It’s the first time in nearly a hundred years that anyone’s got to do it.”
For Aaron Gabriel of Palatine, competing in the inaugural Chicago River Swim was about more than just the two-mile race; it was about supporting a lifelong friend and helping restore a beloved civic tradition.
Gabriel, a lifelong swimmer, took to the waterway on Sunday as one of over 300 participants in the first official river swim in 98 years. His motivation was deeply personal: the event was organized by his close friend, Doug McConnell, through the nonprofit A Long Swim to raise funds for ALS research.
A dedicated athlete, Gabriel stays in condition by training extensively. “I swim quite a bit with a masters team that uses the Beuhler YMCA in Palatine as home base. I try to practice 5 times a week,” added Gabriel.
He found the conditions on race day to be agreeable, if a bit warm for a competitive swimmer. The water was 74 degrees on Sunday. “Definitely warmer than I would have liked but very comfortable for most,” said the two-mile competitor. This time of year the river temperature can range from 62-74 degrees.
Gabriel’s participation was backed by a lifetime in the sport. His swimming career includes leading St. Charles High School to two high school state titles in the early 1980s, followed by a successful stint as a long-distance swimmer at the University of Wisconsin, where he was a Big Ten champion in the 500 and 1,650-yard freestyle events. More recently, he has tested his skills in open water, having competed in the challenging Alcatraz Open Water swim in the San Francisco Bay and the Big Shoulders 5K swim race in Lake Michigan just a couple of weeks ago.
Gabriel was not the only participant with ties to the local YMCA. The two eldest male participants in the two-mile swim, Don Alsen and Scott Guilfoil, were also representing the Buehler YMCA, highlighting the strong community and masters swimming culture in the area.
A welcome program, including commentary from key dignitaries, was held on the main stage. Mayor Brandon Johnson provided opening remarks and said, "The Chicago River Swim is a symbol of Chicago's resilience and progress. Once too polluted for recreation, the river has been restored as one of our city's greatest assets. Today shows how far we've come in reclaiming our environment for future generations." The Mayor used an airhorn to start the first race and was joined onstage by Olympian and USA Swimming Ambassador Natalie Hinds, who highlighted the importance of water safety, access and opportunity for young swimmers. An after party was held at Joy District.
“In the 20s Chicago would attract some of the top swimmers in the world, and thousands of spectators. Back then they were celebrating the fact that the river was so clean after its reversal,” said Doug McConnell, co-founder of A Long Swim. “We’re doing the same thing, celebrating that the river is so clean after all of the hard work that’s been done by the city, by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, and the nonprofits that are here.” The first river swim in nearly a century was supposed to take place last year, but the event was moved to Lake Michigan after the city denied its permit. After this year’s successful event, A Long Swim plans to hold the event again in 2026.
Chicago’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Angela Tovar, hopes the event will change perceptions. “The river definitely gets a bad rap … We can move away from that reputation of the river as just a toxic dump and really think about how far we’ve come, not just here Downtown, but across our neighborhoods, too,” said Tovar. The event’s proceeds will go toward ALS research at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, as well as to youth swim safety education programs, raising approximately $150,000 for ALS research and $50,000 to support 2,000 youth swimmers at the Kroc Center.