10th Tröbitz 24-Hour Swim

10 Years of Swim Marathon

Since its premiere in 2012, the Tröbitz 24-Hour Swim has established itself as one of the most distinctive sporting events in southern Brandenburg. The organizer is the municipality of Tröbitz in the Elbe-Elster district – home to the adventure pool and sports complex, which becomes a communal venue for the 24 hours. The 2026 edition will be the 10th in the series.

“Anyone who can swim 100 meters can participate”

The format's requirement is accessible: anyone who can swim 100 meters continuously can participate. There are individual and team categories, children swim along, families, sports clubs, school classes, and also seniors – the idea is not primarily high-performance sport, but the shared experience of the water over a full day-night cycle. The atmosphere is more reminiscent of a sports festival with a popular character than a competition.

Charity Component

An initiative, continued in 2026, links the swim to a donation mechanism: the Sparkasse Elbe-Elster donates €1 for every kilometer swum to maintain the adventure pool – a form of participatory engagement that is essential in times of tight municipal budgets for swimming pools in rural Brandenburg.

Historical Review

The distances swum annually range from 445.3 km (2012) to 1,144 km (record 2017, with "bright sunshine," as the organizers note). The event is thus both sportingly measurable and communally open – a rare combination.

Tröbitz in the Elbe-Elster Region

Tröbitz is located in southern Brandenburg, in the Elbe-Elster district, on the edge of the Lower Lusatian Heathland. The small municipality is less known regionally – the 24-Hour Swim is one of its high-profile trademarks and shows how rural Brandenburg communities can independently develop their profile.