Photo Credit: Veronika Mikos - Healthy Seas

Arena and Healthy Seas Team Up Again for a Second Year

07 June 2024

For the second consecutive year, arena and Healthy Seas are continuing their partnership committed to the health and protection of our waters

Healthy Seas is a foundation dedicated to safeguarding the world's oceans and seas through three key pillars: clean-up, education, and marine waste prevention. Their primary mission is to tackle the issue of marine debris, with a particular focus on fishing nets, to promote healthier aquatic ecosystems. They achieve this by collaborating with volunteer divers, educators, fishermen, port authorities, waste management companies on a global scale, and partner companies like arena SpA, which has the protection and safeguarding of water in its entirety as one of its key pillars. Following last year's great success, this season the project will be even stronger and more structured. In the latter part of the year, arena will support clean-up missions in three different countries thanks to the support of three arena ambassadors who have a very special relationship with water.

In Italy, the arena ambassador for this collaboration will be Gregorio Paltrinieri, the Olympic 1500m freestyle champion in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Olympic bronze medallist in the 10km open water event in Tokyo 2020. Paltrinieri is not only an open water champion, but he is also the creator of the Italian open water racing circuit called Dominate The Water, which is more than just a sports competition; it is a movement that combines the passion for long-distance swimming with the crucial importance of protecting the seas and their ecosystem. The Italian champion has always been passionate about cleaning up the sea and safeguarding the Italian coasts, and the clean-up mission will take place in Italy in the second half of the year.

The second country involved in this project is Germany, where arena will be joined by the reigning Olympic 10km champion from Tokyo 2020, Florian Wellbrock, as an exceptional ambassador for this mission in collaboration with Healthy Seas. The German champion is very sensitive to the issue of cleaning up the seas and he will be at the forefront of the clean-up of the North European seas, bringing all his experience and awareness to this great sustainability activity.

Finally, the third and final ambassador will be the American Drew Kibler for the clean-up of the California coast. World champion with the 4x200m freestyle relay in Budapest 2022, the American freestyler has shown a strong commitment to this initiative from the very beginning, bringing great energy and visibility to the protection of the seas.

"We are honoured to collaborate with arena and its extraordinary athletes for our global clean-up missions. The love of water unites us, and sport has the incredible power to inspire and unite people. Through this collaboration, we aim to harness this power to protect our precious marine environments. Arena's unwavering dedication to protecting water in all its forms is a powerful example and together we strive to trigger a wave of environmental management within the sporting community and beyond. By joining forces, we can create lasting change and ensure that our seas remain vibrant and healthy for generations to come," said the President of Healthy Seas.

To which arena’s CEO Peter Graschi reiterated:

We are proud to be able to collaborate with the Healthy Seas foundation for these global sea clean-up missions. The care and protection of water are cornerstones of our sustainability plan. This year we are happy to have also involved three champions of our Team Elite. We hope that their support for this project and their attention to the safeguarding and protection of the seas can further reinforce public awareness on this issue."