Courtesy of WOWSA, Virginia Key, Florida.

In the first race of the day at the 2019 USA Swimming National Open Water Swimming Championships in Miami, Florida, Ana Marcela Cunha led nearly the entire way in a strong performance to win the women’s 10 km marathon swim.

For the American women, Ashley Twichell and Haley Anderson finished second and third respectively to lock in their positions at the 2019 FINA World Championships in South Korea.

Likewise in the next race, the men’s 10 km marathon swim, Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri won the race. He built upon a large lead and hung on.

While the focus on the race for the Americans was primarily finishing in the top 2 positions, the 24-year-old Italian 2016 Olympic 1500m champion gave an indication to the Americans – and the rest of the world – that the podium pace expected at the 2019 FINA World Championships in South Korea and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will be achieved in a completely different gear.

David Heron got fourth overall, but he was the second American and will have a shot in South Korea to qualify for the 2020 Olympics along with Wilmovsky, Anderson and Twichell.

10 km Men’s Results:
1. Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy, 24) 1:49:25.37
2. Jordan Wilimovsky (25) 1:50:57.35
3. Mario Sanzullo (Italy, 25) 1:51:41.21
4. David Heron (24) 1:52:22.03
5. Brennan Gravley (18) 1:52:25.43
6. James Brinegar (19) 1:52:28.86
7. Victor Johansson (Sweden, 20) 1:52:30.09
8. Brendan Casey (22) 1:52:56.34
9. Theodore C. Smith (20) 1:52:56.92
10. Taylor Abbott (20) 1:52:57.13
11. Christopher Yeager (20) 1:54:35.33
12. Gordon Mason 1:54:41.96
13. Christopher Deegan (Australia, 23) 1:55:09.54
14. William Roberts (19) 1:56:16.43
15. Aaron Apel (20) 1:56:17.74
16. Ivan Puskovitch (19) 1:57:00.39
17. Samuel Rice (22) 1:57:07.82
18. Joseph Gutierrez (18) 1:57:25.90
19. Sawyer Grimes (17) 1:57:53.49
20. Felix Auboeck (Austria, 22) 1:58:41.55
21. Jack Collins (21) 1:59:03.67
22. Jackson Carlile (15) 1:59:57.96
23. Kenneth Lloyd (17) 1:59:29.43
24. Cale Russell (19) 1:59:31.50
25. Peter Thompson (16) 1:59:32.85
26. Mason Nyboer (17) 1:59:46.08
27. Kevin Jackson (25) 2:00:04.00
28. Tyler Jones (22) 2:00:09.11
29. Jared Graham (20) 2:00:10.46
30. Dylan Becker (16) 2:01:53.15
31. Andrew Matejka (18) 2:02:03.24
32. Nico Hernandez-Tome (18) 2:04:17.25
33. Luke Thornbrue (18) 2:04:27.35
34. Connor Hunt (16) 2:04:31.38
35. Ryan Ratliff (19) 2:18:03.63
36. Nicholas Becker (19) 2:26:14.72

Swimming World Magazine interviewed Jordan Wilimovsky about racing against Paltrinieri [see above].

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