[3] He swam in the first-ever men's 10 km open water marathon, against a field of 24 other competitors, including former pool swimmers Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria and Thomas Lurz of Germany.

Ho finished the race in ninth place, with a time of 1:52:13.1, approximately twenty-one seconds behind winner Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands.

[4] At the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy, Ho became the first South African to win a medal in open water swimming, taking the bronze in the 5 km marathon, for a fastest possible time of 56:41.9.

The following year, he reinforced his lead in the FINA 10 km Marathon Swimming World Cup circuit, by reaching the top position in all eight meets of the series.

[10] He competed against a field of 61 open water swimmers including Stoychev, David Davies of Great Britain, and Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia, who previously won an Olympic gold medal from the pool.