Mexico hosted the Cancún stop of the FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup today, a celebration of Mexico’s bicentennial independence.

In rough conditions in the Caribbean Sea, along the sea coast, the athletes competed along four 2.5K loops.

Fran Crippen won comfortably by 11 seconds with Chip Peterson barely beating Mark Warkentin by 0.3 seconds for second. Alex Meyer finished a close fourth for a 1-4 sweep by the American men.

Mark Warkentin led for much of the race, but Fran pulled right behind Mark around the last turn buoy in the choppy conditions with 800 meters to go. Immediately the pace picked up for the next 100 meters as Fran and Mark shared the lead. Chip blasted forward and joined his American teammates until there was about 500 meters to go. With Fran, Mark and Chip battling stroke-for-stroke, the trio was in a three-wide and it was anyone’s race.

Then, in the troughs of the ocean swells, Fran shifted into another gear and created a body-length separation over his American rivals. Fran maintained his lead in the chop for the last 500 meters as he was quickly followed by Chip, Mark and Alex.

Including Andrew Gemmell, 10K silver medalist in the 2009 World Championships, the American men are demonstrating how deep they are at the world level. But only two of them will earn the right to represent the USA at the 2011 World Swimming Championships in Shanghai.

Information from Cancun indicates that Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha won the gold with America’s Christine Jennings the silver and Angela Maurer of Germany taking the bronze on the women’s side.

The official men’s and women’s results are below:

1. Fran Crippen (USA), 2:07:53.1
2. Chip Peterson (USA), 2:08:04.2
3. Mark Warkentin (USA), 2:08:04.6
4. Alexander Meyer (USA), 2:08:05.3
5. Chad Ho (RSA), 2:08:06.3
6. Allan Do Carmo (BRA), 2:08:06.9
7. Andreas Waschburger (GER), 2:08:08.2
8. Ivan Lopez (MEX), 2:08:10.9
9. Luis Escober (MEX), 2:08:11:9
10. Alejandro Hernandez (MEX), 2:08:17.5
11. Ivan Enderica Ochoa (ECU), 2:08:21.1
12. Rodrigo Elorza (MEX), 2:09:05.1
13. Erwin Maldonado (VEN), 2:09:55.2
14. Daniel Delgadillo (MEX), 2:09:55.3
15. Sergiy Fesenko (AZE), 2:11:02.9
16. Phillip Ryan (NZ), 2:11:44.8
17. Enderica Santiago (ECU), 2:13:55.6
18. Manuel Chiu (MEX), 2:14:04.2
19. Fernando Gonzales (MEX), 2:14:29.2
20. Alan Rojas (MEX), 2:14:31.0
21. Arturo Rosales (MEX), 2:14:58.1
22. Samuel Menegon de Bona (BRA), 2:15:52.5
23. Juan Manuel Del Pino (MEX), 2:16:36.5
24. Segovia Johndry (VEN), 2:18:28.2
25. Mateus Evangelista (BRA), 2:19:13.9
26. Roberto Penalillo (CHI), 2:19:40.5
27. Alfredo Villa (MEX), 2:22:01.2
28. Emmanuel Ortuno (MEX), 2:37:58.6 (OTL)
29. Ariel Rodriguez (MEX), 2:46:46.0 (OTL)

1. Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA), 2:17:29.3
2. Christine Jennings (USA), 2:17:30.3
3. Angela Maurer (GER), 2:17:36.0
4. Emily Hanson (USA), 2:25:34.8
5. Zaira Cardenas (MEX), 2:25:40.8
6. Alejandra Gonzalez (MEX), 2:25:44.4
7. Lizeth Rueda (MEX), 2:25:58.7
8. Isabell Donath (GER), 2:28:20.9
9. Odette Saldivar Massimi (MEX), 2:32:14.4
10. Carla Diaz (VEN), 2:35:04.6
11. Melissa Villaseñor Reyes (MEX), 2:36:34.7
12. Florencia Melo (VEN), 2:37:09.7
13. Cindy Toscano (GUA), 2:37:54.8
14. Monserrat Ortuno (MEX), 2:37:44.8
15. Diana Ducoulombier (MEX), 2:43:28.3
16. Alejandra Villasenor (MEX), 2:43:28.8
17. Andrea Navarro (MEX), 2:45:05.5
18. Zaira Alfano (MEX), 2:46:42.3
19. Jaqueline (MEX), 2:46:43.2
20. Marroquín Tamez Marcela (MEX), 2:48:45.0 (OTL)

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