KAILUA-KONA — The swells rolled in and the buoys were hard to sight, but that didn’t stop 332 swimmers from competing in the final leg of this year’s Triple Crown Swim Race Series.

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KAILUA-KONA — The swells rolled in and the buoys were hard to sight, but that didn’t stop 332 swimmers from competing in the final leg of this year’s Triple Crown Swim Race Series.

Sunday’s Kamakahonu Swim closed out the 2026 series in style, capping three 1-mile open water swim events that started back in May with the Anaehoomalu Splash, then rolled through June’s Hapuna Rough Water Swim before bringing everybody back to the water one last time.

This marked the fifth year Kona Aquatics, Inc. has successfully put on the series, and if Sunday’s turnout was any indication, it’s not slowing down.

“We have 332 who signed up before the race,” said Race Director and Kona Aquatics Club head coach, Dave Gibson. “Last year we were in the 280s, but we blew past that number this year. There are a lot of reasons (for the increase in participants), but we’ve been putting on this event for a while now with this being our fifteenth Triple Crown Race. We have a really good formula that we execute, we have our safety in place, we have refreshments and good giveaways afterwards, so it’s become a really good community event.

“But this year has been our toughest ocean year. We’ve had wind up at Waikoloa, we had a lot of wind at Hapuna, and when we ran our 2.4-mile race in April we had a lot of brown water, so we had to reschedule that. Today, we have a little bit of a swell so we are excited to see a nice, safe race, and everyone having a lot of fun today.”

While each individual event within the swim series recognized overall male and female winners, the ultimate honor of being crowned the Triple Crown champion was reserved for the swimmers who posted the lowest, or fastest, cumulative times among the three qualifying races.

Before Sunday’s swim race, Kamuela’s Zane Imonen and Holualoa’s Kiliheamaikalani “Kinsey” Oka held a solid lead in the series after winning the first two events, Anaehoomalu Splash and the Hapuna Rough Water Swim. Imonen was also the defending Triple Crown Swim Race Series champion, and Oka has twice won the women’s Triple Crown title. For both, the pressure was real.

Once the mass start began, Kailua Bay turned into a whitewater of arms and legs with everyone jockeying for space before the pack spread out. Somewhere at the front, the leaders quickly separated themselves from the rest of the field and from there, it was a race to the finish.

As spectators transitioned from the Pier to Kamakahonu Beach, two swimmers were spotted side-by-side heading toward the sandy beach. Imonen touched sand first then sprinted up the beach to cement his win as both the Kamakahonu Swim winner, in a great time of 21 minutes and 59 seconds, and the Triple Crown Swim Race Series Champion.

Kamuela’s Kelan Kennedy finished a few strokes back to take second place with his time of 22:03, and Kailua-Kona’s Ethan Ng finished in third at 22:26.

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“It feels good!” smiled Imonen when asked about winning the Triple Crown title for a second year. “I’m excited though I was a little nervous this morning. The waves were fun out there.”

Imonen, who will be a senior at Hawaii Preparatory Academy this year, said the strong swells and rough conditions made it harder to sight the turn buoys.

“I was actually ahead of Kelan but then he caught me after the second turn buoy,” said the 17-year old Kamuela resident. “Then we were side by side once we hit the Pier. Once I touched sand, it was a sprint to the finish.”

The women’s race unfolded equally as exciting. Oka has been the name in the women’s race series for years, winning the Triple Crown Swim Race title back in 2023 and again in 2024. However, 2025 dealt her a rough hand. An injury knocked her out during last year’s opening race, and she had to watch the rest of the series from the sidelines. That’s a hard thing for any competitor, let alone someone used to standing on top of the podium. But when she showed up in May determined to work her way back, there was a feeling that great things were about to happen.

That momentum continued all the way through Sunday’s swim race. Oka swam a strong, strategic race through conditions that had plenty of other athletes struggling to sight the course. She sprinted out of the water to take the Kamakahonu women’s title in a fabulous time of 22:35, and in doing so, reclaimed the overall women’s Triple Crown Swim Race Series crown that had eluded her the year before. At just 16-years of age, Oka now owns three Triple Crown Swim Race Series titles.

“It feels really good!” Oka said about winning Kamakahonu and the series. “I thought after last year’s injury coming back this year was going to be difficult. But with the support from Zane before Fiji, Coach Dave, and even Zane’s parents and my parents, just all the support gave me the strength to keep going. I think swimming with Zane especially, and Ethan and Kelan really pushed me to do better. I know without them I wouldn’t have these wins under my belt.”

Oka said the hardest part of Sunday’s race was the long wait while treading water before the start.

“At the start it was really long waiting for everyone to come out to the start line,” said Oka who will return to Kealakehe High School this year as a junior. “But I wanted to have a fun race as this is my home ground. I’ve swam at this Pier a lot so having that knowledge of the course, and knowing that I’m out here with some of my best friends really helped me to push through.

“Going into this race I wasn’t really sure because sometimes we get visitors, but I found myself swimming next to Millie (Knudson), my friend from Nebraska who is visiting, and racing her was super fun because we got to push each other. I felt a sense of relief that I was able to push through. Seeing everyone smiling at me as I ran up the beach really gave me a sense of joy and fulfillment as I don’t think I felt that in a really long time. It was a really special moment for me.”

Knudson finished second in the women’s race with her time of 22:39, with last year’s women’s Triple Crown champion, Noelani Clark, in third at 22:45.

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