Courtesy of FINA, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Amid 13 Olympians and a large field of 81 competitors, Marc Antoine Olivier not only proved himself the class of the field at the FINA/HOSA 10 km Marathon Swimming World Cup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates today, but he also gave an indication that athletes are swimming as fast as they ever have in history in the build-up to the 2016 Rio Olympics.

With a time of 1 hour 47 minutes and 39 seconds, Olivier blasted past the 2008 Olympic gold medalist time of 1:51:51 by Maarten van der Weijden and the 2012 Olympic gold medalist time of 1:51:51 by Oussama Mellouli.

While every venue is different, the flat-water course in Beijing, London and Abu Dhabi are GPS-marked courses carefully measured by FINA so times can be somewhat compared. But with the heightened sense of competition among the world-class swimmers and an increasing knowledge of how to swim fast for 10 km, the speed of the overall sport seems to be getting faster and faster.

And today, Olivier was the fastest of them all.

With hopes that he replicates that position in August on Copacabana Beach.

Results
1 Marc Antoine Olivier (FRA) 1:47:39.60 [2016 Olympian)
2 Jack Rex Burnell (GBR) 1:47:47.00 [2016 Olympian]
3 Simone Ruffini (ITA) 1:47:47.00 [2016 Olympian]
4 Evgenii Drattcev (RUS) 1:47:48.00 [2008 Olympian]
5 Axel Reymond (FRA) 1:47:48.20
6 Christian Reichert (GER) 1:47:48.40
7 Andreas Waschburger (GER) 1:47:48.50 [2012 Olympian]
8 Ferry Weertman (NED) 1:47:49.80 [2016 Olympian]
9 Allan Do Carmo (BRA) 1:47:49.90 [2008 and 2016 Olympian]
10 Mark Papp (HUN) 1:47:50.10
11 Kirill Abrosimov (RUS) 1:47:50.20
12 Spyridon Gianniotis (GRE) 1:47:50.90 [2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 Olympian]
13 Damien Cattin Vidal (FRA) 1:47:51.50
14 Gergely Gyurta (HUN) 1:47:51.70
15 Matteo Furlan (ITA) 1:47:53.40
16 Kirill Belyaev (RUS) 1:48:05.80
17 Logan Fontaine (FRA) 1:48:11.30
18 Roman Karyakin (RUS) 1:48:11.40
19 Chad Ho (RSA) 1:48:13.50 [2008 Olympian]
20 Anton Evsikov (RUS) 1:48:13.80
21 Caleb Joshua Hughes (GBR) 1:48:14.00
22 David Aubry (FRA) 1:48:15.80
23 Patrik Rakos (HUN) 1:48:15.90
24 Mateusz Sawrymowicz (POL) 1:48:16.00
25 Yasunari Hirai (JPN) 1:48:16.80 [2012 Olympian]
26 Marcel Schouten (NED) 1:48:17.50
27 Ventsislav Aydarski (BUL) 1:48:18.00
28 Sergey Bolshakov (RUS) 1:48:18.90
29 Federico Vanelli (ITA) 1:48:19.80 [2016 Olympian]
30 Daniel Szekelyi (HUN) 1:48:34.60
31 Jan Kutnik (CZE) 1:48:47.20
32 Artem Podyakov (RUS) 1:48:47.50
33 Ivan Afanevich (RUS) 1:48:48.30
34 Bailey Armstrong (AUS) 1:48:51.00
35 Matthias Schweinzer (AUT) 1:48:51.80
36 Vitaliy Khudyakov (KAZ) 1:48:52.60
37 Thore Bermel (GER) 1:48:52.80
38 Diogo Villarinho (BRA) 1:48:53.20
39 Igor Chervynsky (UKR) 1:48:53.30 [2008 and 2012 Olympian]
40 Krzysztof Pielowski (POL) 1:48:53.70
41 Rob Muffels (GER) 1:48:55.40
42 Yann Corbel (FRA) 1:49:01.70
43 Christopher Bryan (IRL) 1:49:05.80
44 Attila Kiss (HUN) 1:49:15.50
45 Simon Huitenga (AUS) 1:49:21.90
46 Benjamin Brantu (FRA) 1:49:47.20
47 Pepijn Smits (NED) 1:49:57.50
48 Igor Snitko (UKR) 1:49:58.80 [1996 and 2000 Olympian]
49 Volodymyr Voronko (UKR) 1:50:12.00
50 Pol Gil (ESP) 1:51:19.80
51 Antonio Arroyo (ESP) 1:51:20.20
52 Evgenij Pop Acev (MKD) 1:51:24.70
53 Farid Zitouni (FRA) 1:51:27.90
54 Adel Elbehary (EGY) 1:51:34.20
55 Tobias Patrick Robinson (GBR) 1:51:35.90
56 Victor Mikael Johansson (SWE) 1:51:39.20
57 Raul Santiago (ESP) 1:51:53.50
58 Hugo Chopineau (FRA) 1:51:59.80
59 Davy Billiau (BEL) 1:52:02.40
60 Denis Adeev (RUS) 1:52:04.40
61 Kai Edwards (AUS) 1:54:31.40
62 Valentin Bernard (FRA) 1:54:32.60
63 Sebastian Karas (POL) 1:56:55.30
64 Tomi Stefanovski (MKD) 1:56:55.40
65 Mohamed Hegazy (EGY) 1:57:02.00
66 Youssef Khalil (EGY) 1:57:43.40
67 Corentin Rabier (FRA) 1:59:12.10
68 Marwan Elamrawy (EGY) 2:01:07.70
69 Kenessary Kenenbayev (KAZ) 2:01:09.80
70 Isaias Vasquez Tavera (COL) 2:02:10.30
71 Ho Yin Kwan (HKG) 2:04:28.50
72 Timur Abzhanov (KAZ) 2:04:29.90
73 Chun Hin Hui (HKG) 2:04:34.50
74 Singha Chau (HKG) 2:04:40.80
75 Ho Yat Winson Lee (HKG) 2:09:06.30
76 Abdulla Albalooshi (UAE) 2:14:16.80
DSQ Amer Albahri (UAE)
DSQ Mohamed Alghalani (UAE)
DSQ Jack Brazier (AUS)
DSQ Tamas Farkas (SRB)
DSQ Gustav Hakan Swedenborg (SWE)

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