Courtesy of WOWSA, Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Guillermo Bértola of Argentina won his 5th consecutive Beach Biathlon (1 km ocean swim + 2.5 km beach run) before winning the 2.5 km Classic ocean swim in Rio de Janeiro at the Rei e Rainha do Mar (King and Queen of the Sea) today on Copacabana Beach.
Top 3 Male Beach Biathlon Finishers*:
1. Antonio Ferraz Bravo Neto 25:30
2. Hugo Amaral Horta Barbosa 26:00
3. Marcello Netto 27:00
Top 3 Female Beach Biathlon Finishers:
1. Claudia Dumont 29:01
2. Juliana Trindade 31:06
3. Sandra Soldan 31:17
Top 3 Male 2.5 km Classic Finishers*:
1. Matheus da Silva Enrich Avellar 31.46
2. Daniel Soares da Silva 31:56
3. Luis Rogerio Lima Arapiraca 33:16
Top 3 Female 2.5 km Classic Finishers:
1. Rafaela Monilly Cardoso Pereira de Souza 34:19
2. Maria Fernanda de Oliveira da Silva Cost 37:33
3. Bianca Arapecida Ewald 37:37
For more information on the Rei e Rainha do Mar, visit here.
It has been quite a year for Bértola who was nominated for the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year along with the following men:
1. Evgenij Pop Acev (Macedonia)
2. Antonio Argüelles (Mexico)
3. John Batchelder (USA)
4. Guillermo Bértola (Argentina)
5. Avram Iancu (Romania)
6. Stéphane Lecat (France)
7. Dr. Lucky Meisenheimer (USA)
8. Lynton Mortensen (Australia)
9. Simone Ruffini (Italy)
10. Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria)
11. Sayed Ihsan Taheri (Afghanistan)
12. Ferry Weertman (Netherlands)
13. Philip Yorke (Great Britain)
The 27-year-old Argentine was nominated as follows, “Guillermo Bértola looks like an athlete with a hardened body and steely gaze. While he has been competing on the professional marathon swimming circuits for years, he has never risen to the top…until this year. The 27-year-old puts his mind in the right spot and aggressively attacks his training and professional marathon races around the world. This year, he won the overall title for the first time in his career, tying with Evgenij Pop Acev in the closest battle in FINA history. He won the 32 km Traversée international du lac St-Jean in Canada and finished 3rd in the 16 km Maratona del Golfo Capri-Napoli in Italy and the 33 km Ohrid Lake Swimming Marathon in Macedonia. He also competed in the FINA 10K World Cup circuit from Argentina to the UAE and competed in the 5 km team, 10 km and 25 km races at the 2017 FINA World Championships. For representing his country extraordinarily well as a personable, seriously-minded ambassador on the international swimming scene, for training hard and serving as an inspiration among young Argentine swimmers, and for winning his first career title on the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit, Guillermo Bértola is a worthy nominee for the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year.
To register and vote on the WOWSA Awards and the 2017 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year, visit here.
* results do not include invited professional athlete Bértola.
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