Courtesy of FINA, Doha, Qatar.

The Dutch duo of Sharon van Rouwendaal and Ferry Weertman [shown above] won the first stop on the FINA/HOSA Marathon Swim World Series in 2 hours 2 minutes 24.4 seconds and 1 hour 52 minues 41.6 seconds respectively.

The 2016 Olympic champions from the Netherlands kicked off their 2018 open water swimming campaign with powerful performances over a field of global stars from 24 countries in Doha, Qatar.

Van Rouwendaal sprinted home over Germany’s Leonie Beck by 0.8 seconds with German teammate Finnia Wunram closely behind in 1.5 seconds later.

Italy had four teammates in the top four, led by Olympic pool swimmer Martina De Memme in fifth. While long-time veteran Angela Maurer finished 22nd at the age of 42, only 49 seconds behind the winner.

On the men’s side, Ferry Weertman finished first in 0.9 seconds over France’s David Aubry with Italy’s Simone Ruffini coming in 0.2 seconds later. It was clear that Weertman fully intends to continue his winning ways in this quadrennial after his 2016 Olympic victory and 2017 world championship victory.

“It is going to be very difficult to beat Ferry down the finish this year and in the foreseeable future,” predicted Steven Munatones. “His pool swimming times this past winter point to his flat-out speed. Combined with his stamina, strength and savvy, his speed enables him to stand on top of the podium after every race he focuses on. With his 1:46.52 in the 200m freestyle, 3:44.38 in the 400m freestyle, and 15:06.31 in the 1500m freestyle at the Dutch national championships last December, Feery is ready to show off his talents throughout this coming summer.”

In a nod to other swimmers to watch during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics quadrennial, Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri 1500m specialist finished fifth while Japan’s Yasunari Hirai was the only non Dutch-German-Italian-French man to finish in the top 10.

Official Women’s Results:
1. Sharon van Rouwendaal (Netherlands) 2:02:24.40

2. Finnia Wunram (Germany) 2:02:26.70
4. Martina de Memme (Italy) 2:02:26.90
6. Arianna Bridi (Italy) 2:02:28.30
8. Oceane Maryse Jeannie Cassignol (France) 2:02:30.80
9. Giulia Gabbrielleschi (Italy) 2:02:32.00
11. Kareena Lee (Australia) 2:02:34.30
14. Anna Olasz (Hungary) 2:03:06.20
18. Danielle Huskisson (Great Britain) 2:03:07.70
20. Yukimi Moriyama (Japan) 2:03:11.70
22. Sarah Bosslet (Germany) 2:03:22.40
25. Paula Ruiz (Spain) 2:03:43.80
27. Mackenzie Brazier (Australia) 2:03:48.20
29. Minami Niikura (Japan) 2:03:56.80
31. Chloe Gubecka (Australia) 2:04:07.20
33. Souad Nefissa Cherouati (Algeria) 2:06:50.70
34. Eva Bonnet (Belgium) 2:10:06.70
36. Phoebe Louise Griffiths (Great Britain) 2:12:49.80
38. Ilona Michele Lourdes Maille (France) 2:14:07.80
39. Claire Georgina Anne-Marie Six (France) 2:14:11.80
DSQ Shan Lei (China)

Official Men’s Results:
1. Ferry Weertman (Netherlands) 1:52:41.60
2. David Aubry (France) 1:52:42.50
3. Simone Ruffini (Italy) 1:52:42.70
4. Axel Reymond (France) 1:52:43.00
5. Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy) 1:52:43.10
6. Matteo Furlan (Italy) 1:52:44.00
7. Rob Frederik Muffels (Germany) 1:52:47.00
9. Logan Fontaine (France) 1:52:48.90
10. Christian Reichert (Germany) 1:53:07.80
12. Victor Johansson (Sweden) 1:53:08.60
14. Tobias Patrick Robinson (Great Britain) 1:53:10.10
16. Alberto Martinez Murcia (Spain) 1:53:10.90
18. Jack Burnell (Great Britain) 1:53:13.20
21. Aubin Louis Coccordano (France) 1:53:14.00
22. Pepijn Smits (Netherlands) 1:53:15.30
24. Allan do Carmo (Brazil) 1:53:18.70
26. Marcel Schouten (Netherlands) 1:53:20.40
28. Fernando Ponte (Brazil) 1:53:24.30
30. Clement Raymond Daniel Batte (France) 1:53:25.80
31. Alexis Leon Lucien Vandevelde (France) 1:53:25.80
32, Enzo Alexandre Pascal Roldan Munoz (France) 1:53:26.00
33. Nicolas Masse-Savard (Canada) 1:53:28.50
35. Bailey Armstrong (Australia) 1:53:33.60
37. Taiki Nonaka (Japan) 1:55:18.90
40. Alexander Studzinski (Germany) 1:55:24.00
42. Hugo Frederic Emmanuel Saillard (France) 1:55:25.60
43. Kaito Watanuki (Japan) 1:55:28.40
45. Baptiste Alexandre Colmant (France) 1:55:29.00
46. Hau-Li Fan (Canada) 1:55:29.70
48. Clement Jean Gerard Kukla (France) 1:55:31.00
49. Shuyi Liu (China) 1:55:49.50
51. Dimitris Negris (Greece) 1:56:18.30
54. Evgenij Pop Acev (Macedonia) 1:56:35.60
56. Christopher Jedel (Sweden) 1:56:41.60
58. Jules Laurent Wallart (France) 1:57:47.10
59. Eric Hedlin (Canada) 1:58:28.00
61. Yosuke Aoki (Japan) 1:58:43.80
63. Kenessary Kenenbayev (Kazakhstan) 2:04:01.10
66. Abdelrahman Mohamed (Qatar) 2:22:41.20
DNF Bertrand Payet (Seychelles)
DNF Damien Payet (Seychelles)

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