Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

Anna Olasz of Hungary won the second and final FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier in Parque Urbano de Albarquel in Setúbal Bay, Portugal to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. After her victory, Olasz said: “I came here in 2012 for the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim Qualification, but I came third and just missed the London Olympic Games because I was the second Hungarian [after Eva Risztov). But today is my second Olympic Qualification and I definitely didn’t want to live the same experience as last time so I really wanted to win. I managed to do so, so I am extremely happy right now.

This was probably one of the toughest races of my life. All 47 of us wanted to make the selection and there were another two really good girls from Hungary so I knew I had to be the best Hungarian. That was probably the hardest part. But nevertheless, I was really confident and I had a really good training period behind me that backed me up.”

15 swimmers will qualify at the 2021 FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier. The final results:

1. Anna Olasz, Hungary (27) 2:01:55.50
2. Paula Ruiz Bravo, Spain (22) 2:01:58.00
3. Kate Farley Sanderson (21) 2:01:58.40
4. Alice Dearing, Great Britain (24) 2:02:01.20
5. Angelica Andre, Portugal (26) 2:02:23.70
6. Maria de Valdes, Spain (22) 2:02:49.50
7. Cecilia Biagioli, Argentina (36) 2:02:52.20
8. Anastasiia Kirpichnikova, Russia (20) 2:02:53.10
9. Samantha Arévalo, Ecuador (26) 2:02:54.10
10. Mafalda Rosa, Portugal (17) 2:02:54.90
11. Spela Perse, Slovenia (24) 2:02:57.70
12. Yumi Kida, Japan (35) 2:03:03.10
13. Danielle Huskisson, Great Britain (28) 2:03:04.80
14. Reka Rohacs, Hungary (21) 2:03:09.50
15. Michelle Weber, South Africa (24) 2:03:12.10
16. Romina Soledad Inwinkelried, Argentina (26) 2:03:13.00
17. Paola Perez, Venezuela (30) 2:03:31.60
18. Krystyna Panchishko, Ukraine (23) 2:04:20.90
19. Minami Niikura, Japan (23) 2:04:55.60
20. Johanna Enkner, Austria (21) 2:05:24.90
21. Stephanie Horner, Canada (32) 2:05:29.30
22. Eva Fabian, Israel (27) 2:05:29.50
23. Alena Benesova, Czech Republic (23) 2:05:35.90
24. Maria Jose Mata Cocco, Mexico (26) 2:07:16.40
25. Maria Bramont-Arias, Peru (21) 2:08:14.40
26. Lenka Sterbova, Czech Republic (26) 2:09:13.50
27. Klaudia Tarasiewicz, Poland (17) 2:09:27.40
28. Martha Sandoval, Mexico (22) 2:11:29.70
29. Li-Shan Chantal Liew, Singapore (22) 2:12:19.50
30. Souad Nefissa Cherouati, Algeria (32) 2:13:11.40
31. Tsz Yin Nip, Hong Kong (21) 2:14:14.70
32. Hania Moro, Egypt (24) 2:15:21.70
33. Stephanie Houtman, South Africa (18) 2:16:32.60
34. Sandy Atef, Egypt (21) 2:17:23.90
35. Yi-Chen Wang, Chinese Taipei (21) 2:17:27.50
36. Mahina Nicole Valdivia Dannenberg, Chile (25) 2:18:26.10
37. Pac Tung Nikita Lam, Hong Kong (20) 2:21:16.30
38. Lilian Hernandez, Venezuela (29) 2:24:19.20
39. Pimpun Choopong, Thailand (25) 2:24:51.90
40. Sofie Frichot, Seychelles (31) 2:26:34.00

• DNF – Majda Chebaraka, Algeria (21)
• OTL – Merle Liivand, Estonia (30)
• OTL – Katawan Teeka, Thailand (21)

The following 15 athletes are heading to the Olympic Games. The first 9 spots were distributed to National Federations with each country with one athlete. The best Japanese was also automatically qualified as host of the Olympics while the remaining 4 spots were split among continents (one each in Africa, Europe, Asia, America). So while Maria de Valdes of Spain finished sixth, because she was the second Spaniard, she did not qualify. The same was true for Mafalda Rose of Portugal and Danielle Huskisson of Great Britain and Reka Rohacs of Hungary

1. Anna Olasz (HUN) – qualified
2. Paula Ruiz Bravo (ESP) – qualified
3. Kate Sanderson (CAN) – qualified 
4. Alice Dearing (GBR) – qualified
5. Angelica Andre (POR) – qualified
6. Cecilia Biagioli (ARG) – qualified
7. Anastasia Kirpichnikova (RUS) – qualified
8. Samantha Arevalo (ECU) – qualified
9. Spela Perse (SLO) – qualified
10. Yumi Kida (JPN) –  qualified
11. Michelle Weber (RSA) –  qualified
12. Paola Perez (VEN) – Americas continent qualifier
13. Krystyna Panchishko (UKR) – European continent qualifier
14. Li-Shan Chantal Liew (SGP) – Asian continent qualifier
15. Souad Nefissa Cherouati (ALG) – African continent qualifier

https://youtu.be/4ljDt9xlCYQ

Due to the water temperature, the athletes were required to wear wetsuits. “It will be interesting to see the relative performance of the swimmers without a wetsuit – which will be the case in Tokyo in the very warm water of Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo Bay – compared to their performances with a wetsuit in the colder water of Setúbal Bay,” said Steven Munatones.

The 15 qualifying swimmers from Setúbal Bay join the following 10 finalists in Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo Bay on August 4th (shown below with their qualification time and place):

1. Xin Xin (China) 1:54:47.20
2. Haley Anderson (USA) 1:54:48.10
3. Rachele Bruni (Italy) 1:54:49.90
4. Lara Grangeon (France) 1:54:50.00
5. Ana Marcela Cunha (Brazil) 1:54:50.50
6. Ashley Twichell (USA) 1:54:50.50
7. Kareena Lee (Australia) 1:54:50.50
8. Finnia Wunram (Germany) 1:54:50.70
9. Leonie Beck (Germany) 1:54:51.00
10. Sharon van Rouwendaal (Netherlands) 1:54:51.10

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