Italy, boosted by a powerful gold-medal performances of Martina Grimaldi and Valerio Cleri in the 10K races, won the overall team championships at the 2010 World Open Water Swimming Championships with 116 points, but the USA was right behind with 111 points with Russia in third with 62 points.

The team results are as follows:

Italy, 116 points
USA, 111
Russia, 62
France, 40
Brazil, 36
Germany, 36
Australia, 24
Spain, 21
Netherlands, 21
Bulgaria, 18
Ukraine, 17
Greece, 16
Canada, 13
China, 12
Argentina, 8
Czech Republic, 8
South Africa, 6
Great Britain, 5
Slovakia, 5
New Zealand, 4
Croatia, 3
Mexico, 3
Azerbaijan, 2
Ecuador, 1
Canada, 0
Poland, 0
Slovenia, 0

Photo of the Italian team at the 2009 European Open Water Swimming Championships.

Copyright © 2010 by Steven Munatones