Photo of Kristóf Rasovszky by Anikó Kovács of World Aquatics.
100 years ago, the world’s best swimmers were swimming in the open water and in pools.
These early aquatic heroes include Duke Kahanamoku, Pua Kealoha, Samuel Kahanamoku, and Johnny Weissmuller (of Tarzan fame).
Dial forward 100 years and athletes like Florian Wellbrock of Germany and Gregorio Paltrinieri of Italy are dominating both open water and pool events (at the 800m and 1500m distances).
On Sunday, the following men will compete in the 10 km marathon swim in Mmmm Seaside Park in Fukuoka, Japan. In the warm (25°C), calm waters of Hakata Bay, Wellbrock and Paltrinieri are expected to (figuratively) slug it out for gold and capture two of the available Olympic 10K Marathon Swim qualifications spots.
Other contenders expected to be in the lead pack include David Betlehem and Kristóf Rasovszky of Hungary, Brennan Gravley of the USA, Athanasios Kynigakis of Greece, Logan Fontaine of France, Bailey Armstrong and Nicholas Sloman of Australia, Domenico Acerenza of Italy, and Matan Roditi of Israel.
Men’s 10 km Marathon Swim Start List
- Johndry Segovia (35, Venezuela)
- Oliver Klement (21, Germany)
- David Betlehem (19, Hungary)
- Sacha Velly (18, France)
- Nikita Kornilov (22, Uzbekistan)
- Franco Ivo Cassini (29, Argentina)
- Theo Druenne (17, Monaco)
- Eric Georges Brown (20, Canada)
- Damien Payet (19, Seychelles)
- Diego Vera (27, Venezuela)
- Ziyang Zhang (22, China)
- Adrian Gustavo Ywanaga Papi (18, Peru)
- Christian B Bayo (32, Puerto Rico)
- Jamarr Andre Bruno (18, Puerto Rico)
- David Calderon (16, Bolivia)
- Fernando Ponce (21, Guatemala)
- William Yan Thorley (20, Hong Kong)
- Joshua Ashley (20, South Africa)
- Kristof Rasovszky (26, Hungary)
- Tanakrit Kittiya (26, Thailand)
- David Farinango (22, Ecuador)
- Daniil Androssov (19, Kazakhstan)
- Alexandre Finco (26, Brazil)
- Maximiliano Paccot (27, Uruguay)
- Hector Thomas Cheal Pardoe (22, Great Britain)
- Lev Cherepanov (22, Kazakhstan)
- Aflah Fadlan Prawira (26, Indonesia)
- Christian Schreiber (21, Switzerland)
- Ondrej Zach (25, Czech Republic)
- Connor Buck (20, South Africa)
- Gregorio Paltrinieri (28, Italy)
- Tomas Peciar (20, SVK)
- Brennan Gravley (22, USA)
- Artyom Lukasevits (18, Singapore)
- Tiahchen Lan (18, China)
- Diogo Cardoso (22, Portugal)
- Joaquin Moreno (25, Argentina)
- Athanasios Kynigakis (24, Greece)
- Giullem Pujol (26, Spain)
- Daniel Delgadillo (33, Mexico)
- Asterios Dalgogiannis (26, Greece)
- Paulo Strehlke Delgado (17, Mexico)
- Yonatan Ahdut (19, Israel)
- Santiago Reyes (23, Guatemala)
- Logan Fontaine (24, France)
- Bailey Armstrong (24, Australia)
- Logan Vanhuys (26, Belgium)
- Eric Hedlin (30, Canada)
- Chin Ting Keith Sin (28, Hong Kong)
- Jeison Rojas (20, Costa Rica)
- Taishin Minamide (27, Japan)
- Martin Straka (22, Czech Republic)
- Jan Hercog (25, Austria)
- Nicholas Sloman (25, Australia)
- Domenico Acerenza (28, Italy)
- Tiago Campos (24, Portugal)
- Anurag Singh (20, India)
- Esteban Enderica Salgado (32, Ecuador)
- Juan Manuel Morales (22, Colombia)
- Ritchi Oh (20, Singapore)
- Khomchan Wichachai (13, Thailand)
- Junho Sung (21, Korea)
- Matan Roditi (24, Israel)
- Diogo Villarinho (29, Brazil)
- Kaiki Furuhata (24, Japan)
- Jaehun Park (23, Korea)
- Joey Tepper (21, USA)
- Florian Wellbrock (25, Germany)
- Cheng-Chi Cho (24, Taipei)
22 years ago along the same course in Fukuoka, these were some of the top finishers:
2001 FINA 10 km Top 10 Final Results
- Yevgeny Bezruchenko (Russia) 2:01:04
- Vladimir Dyatchin (Russia) 2:01:06
- Fabio Venturini (Italy) 2:01:11
- John Flanagan (USA) 2:01:16
- Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria) 2:01:22
- Scott Shepherd (New Zealand) 2:01:30
- Stéphane Lecat (France) 2:01:37
- Mark Saliba (Australia) 2:01:37
- Miodrag Vašić (Yugoslavia) 2:01:57
- Emmanuel Poissier (France) 2:01:57
Including #17 Christof Wandratsch (an International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame inductee from Germany) in 2:08:23 and #20 Rostislav Vítek (Czech Republic) in 2:10:16.
© 2023 Daily News of Open Water Swimming