The men’s 3 km Knockout Sprints at the European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Championships in Stari Grad, Croatia demonstrated how fit Kristóf Rasovszky truly is.
On Day One of the four-day championships, he won the 10 km race over Logan Fontaine and Marc-Antoine Olivier. On Day Two, he finished third after Gregorio Paltrinieri and Dávid Betlehem. Today, on Day Three, about 18 hours after the 5 km final, he swam a controlled 15:53 on the 1.5 km First Round heat and easily qualified second to move on to the Second Round that began less than 15 minutes later. 16 of the 24 swimmers moved onwards to the Second Round.
In the Second Round heat, Rasovszky finished fourth in 10:24 over the 1 km course, again easily qualifying to the Top 10 for the Final heat. Paltrinieri won both the First Round head and the Second Round heat, but with less than 20 minutes until the start, Rasovszky was ready to rip off a fast 500 meters. True to form and breathing to the right as he kept his competition in sight on every breath, he won in 5:05.04, ahead of his teammate Betlehem.
Men’s 3 km Knockout Sprint – Final Heat Results
- Kristóf Rasovszky Hungary 5:04.04
- Logan Fontaine France 5:04.66
- Dávid Betlehem Hungary 5:05.20
- Marc-Antoine Olivier France 5:06.13
- Gregorio Paltrinieri Italy 5:06.14
- Arne Schubert Germany 5:08.10
- Sacha Velly France 5:08.13
- Matan Roditi Israel 5:10.05
- Davide Machello Italy 5:11.16
- Matteo Diodata Italy 5:11.96
Hungarian Sweep
The women had a bit more time to rest between the 5 km event yesterday and today’s 3 km Knockout Sprints. And like her teammate Rasovszky, Hungarian Olympian Bettina Fábián made the best of the rest and won the women’s 3 km Knockout over Spain’s Paula Otero Fernández and Lea Boy of Germany.
For more information, visit europeanaquatics.org.
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