The whole of France is expecting lots of gold medals and several world records from the fastest Frenchman in the pool, Léon Marchand, at the upcoming Paris Olympic Games.

But if Marchand’s open water swimming teammates, Marc-Antoine Olivier and Logan Fontaine, can pull off a 1-2 finish in Paris like they did on the second stop on the 2024 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup held in Sardinia’s Golfo Aranci this weekend, another Gallic roar will be heard throughout the streets of Paris.

The 27-year-old Olivier and the 25-year-old Fontaine are making this 1-2 French punch a habit. The duo also went 1-2 in the 5 km World Aquatics Championships in Doha and hope to do it again on August 9th in the waters of the Seine River.

But, very importantly, their top European competitors – Florian Wellbrock of Germany and Italian teammates Gregorio Paltrinieri and Domenico Acerenza – were not present at the race.

Top 25 Finishers

1. Marc-Antoine Olivier (27, France) 1:50:03.00
2. Logan Fontaine (25, France) 1:50:04.40
3. Kristóf Rasovszky (27, Hungary) 1:50:04.50
4. David Betlehem (20, Hungary) 1:50:04.80
5. Andrea Filadelli (23, Italy) 1:50:08.40
6. Matan Roditi (25, Israel) 1:50:08.70
7. Hector Pardoe (23, Great Britain) 1:50:09.90
8. Dario Verani (26, Italy) 1:50:13.90
9. Nicholas Sloman (26, Australia) 1:50:14.10
10. Tobias Patrick Robinson (27, Great Britain) 1:50:14.50
11. Christian Schreiber (21, Switzerland) 1:50:15.80
12. Mario Sanzullo (30, Italy) 1:50:16.10
13. Matteo Furlan (34, Italy) 1:50:16.50
14. Paulo Strehlke Delgado (18, Mexico) 1:50:16.70
15. Pasquale Giordano (20, Italy) 1:50:17.90
16. Giuseppe Ilario (20, Italy) 1:50:18.10
17. Alessio Occhipinti (28, Italy) 1:50:19.10
18. Niklas Frach (26, Germany) 1:50:20.20
19. Pasquele Sanzullo (26, Italy) 1:50:20.50
20. Vincenzo Caso (18, Italy) 1:50:20.90
21. Marcello Guidi (27, Italy) 1:50:21.50
22. Matheus Melecchi (18, Brazil) 1:50:22.70
23. David Farinango (23, Ecuador) 1:50:24.60
24. Victor Johansson (25, Sweden) 1:50:25.90
25. Martin Straka (23, Czech Republic) 1:50:27.60

Team Italy Protects Its Home Waters

In Sunday’s 4x1500m mixed relay, the Italian team of Ginevra Taddeucci, Veronica Santoni, Andrea Filadelli, and anchor leg Gregorio Paltrinieri won gold medal in a close race over Germany and Hungary under blue skies in the blue waters of Sardinia.

4x1500m Mixed Relay Results

1. Italy A Team 1:06:58.80 with Ginevra Taddeucci, Veronica Santoni, Andrea Filadelli, Gregorio Paltrinieri
2. Germany 1:06:59.80 with Jeannette Spiwoks, Leonie Beck, Jonas Kusche, Niklas Frach
3. Hungary 1:07:00.10 with Mira Szimcsak, Bettina Fabian, David Betlehem, Kristóf Rasovszky
4. Brazil 1:07:22.00 with Viviane Jungblut, Ana Marcela Cunha, Matheus Melecchi, Lucas Machado
5. Italy B Team 1:08:28.40 with Barbara Pozzobon, Sofie Callo von Platen, Mario Sanzullo, Dario Verani
6. China 1:09:25.10 with Yihan Mao, Jinhou Zhang, Xin Xin, Peixin Liu

© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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