The New York City’s parks department's early-morning adult lap swimming program is expanding over last year's schedule — now to include 10 public pools, starting this week.
City pools opened to the public late last month for twice-daily open swim sessions. But starting this week, the department plans to open Astoria Pool in Queens, Claremont Pool in the Bronx, Gottesman Pool in Manhattan and seven others throughout the city to adults for lap swimming on weekday mornings from 7 to 8:30 a.m. — weather permitting. It began for the season Monday, despite the major downpours.
The program is free, but swimmers must register poolside to participate.
“Lap swim is such a special program. It really allows people to have access to the pool just for lap swimming and getting that exercise and that time for yourself where there's not a lot of splashing kids around necessarily,” parks department Deputy Commissioner Margaret Nelson said.
Regular swimmers can also take part in a summer-long lap swim competition by recording the number of laps with aquatics specialists at each pool deck, according to the Parks Department. An awards ceremony will be held at the end of August to celebrate the swimmers who completed 25 or more miles.
The Adult Lap Swim program was put on pause during the COVID-19 pandemic, and struggled to make a comeback due to a nationwide lifeguard shortage, Nelson said. In 2025, it came back for the first time since the pandemic, but only at five pools, and three times a week. While this year’s version is much more expansive than the 2025, it’s still not where it was before the pandemic, when it also included a “night owl” session in the evenings after pools closed.
Nelson said the department hopes to bring back the evening adult lap swim sessions in the future.
The last day for adult lap swimming will be Aug. 28. Pools will remain open for another two weeks after that.
The other pools are: Faber Pool in Staten Island, Hamilton Fish Pool in Manhattan, Kosciuszko Pool in Brooklyn, Liberty Pool in Queens, Lyons Pool in Staten Island, McCarren Pool in Brooklyn, and Van Cortlandt Pool in the Bronx.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the total number of miles required for swimmers to win recognition.
