A year has past since the 2024 MPSF Open Water Swimming Championships held in Marine Stadium in Long Beach, California, but nothing has changed.
The live stream by Game On Live Studio (see here with play-by-play by Cejih Yung) saw a close rematch between defending champion Thomas Langlois of Whittier College and Canada (@thomaslangloisopenwaterswimmer), 2023 winner Mark Kovacsics of California Baptist University and Hungary (@kovacsics_mark), and Batu Servi of Grand Canyon University and Turkey.
The rematch could simply not be closer or more exciting to witness.
Langlois and Kovacsics swam shoulder-to-shoulder throughout the entire race while Servi drafted brilliantly behind for 4.9 km. Each of the men understood each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and tactics.
Around the last turn buoy about 100 meters from the shoreline, the trio ended up shoulder-to-shoulder sprinting [see below]. Stroke-for-stroke they sprinted as Kovacsics was caught up in the middle with Servi on his right and Langlois on his left. Kovacsics got squeezed a little in the middle about 30 meters from shore, but over the last few strokes into shore, the men were in a dead heat. Servi stood up first, a little too early and too deep, while Kovacsis took another few strokes and stood up for the last run-up the beach. Servi stumbled while savvy Langlois, the shortest of the trio, stood up only when his hand touched the sea floor.
His timing could not be more perfect.
Langlois sidestepped the falling Servi as Kovacsics remained a step behind. Langlois had the edge as the three ran up the soft sand. Again for the second year in a row, in the same fashion, against the same two rivals, Langlois won under the same sunny skies and no wind.
Langlois is a French-Canadian from Quebec who was selected as the Whittier College Athlete of the Year was pumped as he crossed the finish line.
5 km Men’s Results
- Thomas Langlois, 59:06.41
- Mark Kovacsics 59:07.15
- Batu Servi 59:07.67
- Connor Martilla 1:01:16.20
- Holden Short 1:01:56.01
- Wojciech Chalat 1:01:56.86
- Cody Meyer 1:02:03.20
- Fernando Manceras 1:02:08.04
- Darwin S. Anderson 1:02:15.80
- Colin Campbell 1:03:53.00
- Anthony Ramirez 1:03:56.63
- Gergely Torok 1:04:14.91
- Joe Stephenson 1:04:16.90
- Tanner M Nelson 1:04:18.78
- Liam Flaherty 1:04:19.32
- Josh K Peace 1:04:32.28
- Dane Weber 1:04:51.39
- Rex Dr Biebel 1:05:04.46
- Bo Zheng 1:05:18.89
- Zeke Garzon 1:05:23.34
- Easton Mousser 1:06:59.19
- Jeronimo Martinez Barragan 1:07:31.27
- Miles Duncan 1:07:57.30
- Mario Perez 1:08:02.77
- Derek Jones 1:10:03.48
- Walker Slay 1:10:15.78
- Ceja Aj 1:10:50.67
- Daniel Deschenes 1:13:43.69
- Ben Swanton 1:13:51.63
- Alex Song 1:14:27.06
- Owen Ripley 1:14:40.60
- Hunter J Franke 1:14:53.96
- Brody Perkins 1:18:16.83
For more information, visit here. For information on the women’s 5 km race, visit here.
The MPSF Open Water Swimming Championships were held in a 1 km rectangular course in Marine Stadium, site of the rowing events at the 1932 and 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The Olympic 10K Marathon Swim will be held nearby in Long Beach near the Belmont Plaza Pier in the Pacific Ocean.
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