Ranging from Gertrude Ederle in 1924, Greta Andersen in 1948 and John Kinsella in 1968 [shown above] and Keri-Anne Payne [shown above] and Cassandra Patten in 2008, and Oussama Mellouli in 2012, the fastest open water swimmers have represented very well at top international competitions, including swimming to podium positions in the Summer Olympics.
Mellouli really ushered in the emerging generation of dual athletes (pool + open water) over the last several Olympic quadrennials: those who final in both distance freestyle pool events and the 5 km and 10 km open water swims.
Men’s 1500m Freestyle Final
David Betlehem of Hungary, Florian Wellbrock of Germany, David Aubry of France, and Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine were all in the middle lanes in the final heat of the 1500m freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar today.
But it was the swimmer of the championships, David Wiffen of Ireland who led from the 150m and dominated the event. The double distance victor (800m + 1500m freestyles) admitted afterwards that he had exceeded his own expectations, “I just wanted to give a good time and finish off like that. I’m content about my swim. I said in my interview after the race too that the crowd was really good and that pushed me towards getting the gold. I came to this competition thinking of just winning a medal, but I had never won one.
“It’s one of my goals to try and beat the world record at some point. It’s a bit funny to say that too as I’ve got at least another eight years and another proper Olympics swim. Doha has been going great for me and I’m looking forward to the Olympics as I have qualified.”
Wellbrock finished second in 14:44.61, out-touching Aubry in 14:44.85. Similar to Wellbrock, Aubry hinted that they have been training very hard – with the implication that they will both be much faster by the Paris Olympics in July. “If you told me that I would be on the podium before the world championships, I would not believe it. So it is a kind of a surprise. I was training so hard and I managed to do this today.“
The other two open water swimmers – Betlehem in 14:46.44 and Romanchuk in 14:47.54 finished in fourth and fifth respectively.
Closing Sprint Speed
Wellbrock finished his last 50m in 26.40, Aubry finished his last 50m in 26.50, and Betlehem finished his last 50m in 26.21. These final sprinting speeds bodes well for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Paris. It is a clear indication how fast the top men will be sprinting at the end of the 10 km race in the Seine. By comparison, Gregorio Paltrinieri sprinted the last 50m in the 800m in 29.27 and Kristóf Rasovszky sprinted the last 50m in the 800m in 27.20.
CBC Sports Replay
The race in its entirety can be seen here:
Women’s 1500m Freestyle Final
Anastasiia Kirpichnikova of France in fifth in 16:12.98, Gough in sixth in 16:16.85, and Kristel Köbrich of Chile in eighth in 16:18.90 were the open water swimming women in the 800m final.
800m Freestyle Final
Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy in third in 7:42.98, Kristóf Rasovszky of Hungary in fifth in 7:44.42, and Romanchuk in eighth in 7:54.51 were the open water swimming men in the 800m final. Rasovszky won the 10 km marathon swim earlier in the Championships.
Women’s 800m Freestyle Final
Australians Kiah Melverton in seventh in 8:29.35 and Maddy Gough in ninth in 8:36.43 were the open water swimming women who qualified for the final heat of the women’s 800m freestyle.
Other Events
Guilherme Pereira da Costa of Brazil finished fourth in 3:44.22 and Felix Auboeck of Austria finished eighth in 3:51.60 in the 400m freestyle final. Costa also finished 8th in the 200m freestyle final in 1:46.87.
Onwards to Paris they swim.
© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming
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