Marc-Antoine Olivier Wins FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series In Doha
Courtesy of Ahmed Oukda and FINA’s Colin Hill, Doha, Qatar.
Olympic and world champions kicked off the 2020 FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series in the Arabian Gulf in Doha, Qatar today. 75 swimmers including 2016 Olympic gold medalist Ferry Weertman raced over the 10 km course at Katara Beach in Qatar.
2016 Rio Olympic bronze medalist Marc-Antoine Olivier of France emerged first over the field and his 2020 Olympic rivals including Rob Muffels, Florian Wellbrock, Kristóf Rasovszky, Mario Sanzullo, David Aubry, and Gregorio Paltrinieri.
His 12.6-second victory – another solid swim as he prepares for Tokyo – is a very clear indication that the Frenchman will be right in the mix for Olympic gold come August 6th in Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo Bay.
Olivier covered the 5-loop 10 km course in 1 hour 49 minutes 46.6 seconds. It is rare for victory to come with such a commanding lead at the highest echelon of the sport.
The neoprened Olivier said, “I am very happy to win the first race of the season like this. It was technically a different and difficult race for me, but the gold here will give me confidence for the other events especially for the Tokyo Olympics. I will work more to give myself a chance to win the gold medal at the Games.”
Top 6 Results:
1. Marc-Antoine Olivier (France) 1 hour 49 minutes 46.6 seconds
2. Rob Muffels (Germany) 1 hour 49 minutes 59.2 seconds
3. Florian Wellbrock (Germany) in 1 hour 49 minutes 59.3 seconds
4. Fares Zitouni (France) 1:50:00.8
5. Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy) 1:50:01.0
6. Marcello Guidi (Italy) 1:50:01.4
7. Hayden Paul Cotter (Australia) 1:50:01.5
8. Ferry Weertman (Netherlands) 1:50:02.6
9. Jack Burnell (Great Britain) 1:50:03.1
10. Hector Thomas Cheal Pardoe (Great Britain) 1:50:03.6
11. Kirill Abrosimov (Russia) 1:50:05.6
12. Simone Ruffini (Italy) 1:50:06.5
13. Niklas Frach (Germany) 1:50:06.9
14. Mario Sanzullo (Italy) 1:50:07.5
15. Matteo Furlan (Italy) 1:50:07.5
16. Bailey Armstrong (Australia) 1:50:07.5
17. Kai Graeme Edwards (Australia) 1:50:07.6
18. Axel Reymond (France) 1:50:07.9
19. Esteban Enderica Salgado (Ecuador) 1:50:08.1
19. David Farinango (Ecuador) 1:50:08.1
21. Pepijn Smits (Netherlands) 1:50:08.1
22. Tiago Campos (Portugal) 1:50:08.3
23. Alberto Martinez (Spain) 1:50:08.4
24. Clement Batte (France) 1:50:09.1
25. Nicholas Sloman (Australia) 1:50:09.5
26. Andrea Manzi (Italy) 1:50:10.9
27. Vitaliy Khudyakov (Kazakhstan) 1:50:11.3
28. Andreas Waschurger (Germany) 1:50:11.6
29. Athanasios Kynigakis (Greece) 1:50:11.7
30. Pasquale Sanzullo (Italy) 1:50:11.7
31. David Castro (Ecuador) 1:50:11.8
32. Daniel Szekelyi (Hungary) 1:50:12.2
33. Alessio Occhipinti (Italy) 1:50:12.3
34. Soeren Meissner (Germany) 1:50:12.9
35. Peter Galicz (Hungary) 1:50:13.2
36. Taishin Minamide (Japan) 1:50:13.9
37. David Betlehem (Hungary) 1:50:14.7
38. Christian Keber (Germany) 1:50:14.7
39. Guillem Pujol (Spain) 1:50:16.0
40. Alexis Vandevelde (France) 1:50:20.4
41. Krzysztof Pielowski (Poland) 1:50:20.7
42. Rafael Gil (Portugal) 1:50:21.1
43. Nicholas Rollo (Australia) 1:50:21.2
44. Jules Wallart (France) 1:50:21.9
45. Dario Verani (Italy) 1:50:23.2
46. Francesco Ghettini (Italy) 1:50:24.3
47. David Huszti (Hungary) 1:50:27.4
48. Riku Kuwazoe (Japan) 1:50:45.9
49. Lev Cherepanov (Kazakhstan) 1:50:57.1
50. Sebastien Dureux (France) 1:50:58.9
51. Elliot Sodemann (Sweden) 1:51:01.5
52. Igor Chervynskiy (Ukraine)1:51:07.7
53. Takeshi Toyoda (Japan) 1:51:10.7
54. Franco Ivo Cassini (Argentina) 1:51:15.8
55. Enzo Kihara (Brazil) 1:51:20.3
56. Jan Hercog (Austria) 1:51:21.5
57. Evgenij Pop Acev (North Macedonia) 1:51:25.2
58. Jack Wilson (Australia) 1:51:40.6
59. Leo Ouabdesselem (France) 1:51:41.0
60. Marcel Schouten (Netherlands) 1:51:50.6
61. Sacha Velly (France) 1:52:00.8
62. Federico Salghetti-Drioli (Switzerland) 1:52:04.0
63. Damien Joly (France) 1:52:04.6
64. Kristóf Rasovszky (Hungary) 1:52:08.9
65. Clement Kukla (France) 1:52:32.0
66. Allan do Carmo (Brazil) 1:53:24.3
67. Daigo Wada (Japan) 1:54:57.6
68. Matej Kozubek (Czech Republic) 1:56:08.6
69. Ahmed Hafnaoui (Tunisia) 1:56:08.8
70. Taiki Nonaka (Japan) 1:57:45.3
71. Mathieu Mathy Ben Rahou (Morocco) 1:57:58.1
72. Mohamed Khalil Ben Ajmia (Tunisia) 1:59:48.6
73. Matias Cordero (Ecuador) 2:01:28.4
74. Grgo Mujan (Croatia) 2:08:10.5
DSQ Tobias Patrick Robinson (Great Britain)
DNF Divo Damic (Croatia
DNF Jakov Igrec (Croatia
DNF Ahmad Samara (Qatar
DNF Logan Vanhuys (Belgium)
There are 3 more races on the pro circuit before the Olympic qualifiers head to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympic Games marathon swim:
* Victoria in Seychelles on May 3rd
* Budapest in Hungary on June 6th
* Setubal Bay in Portugal on June 13th
The Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean is held in Canada on July 19th and the Traversée internationale du lac Megantic on August 1st, but it is highly unlikely any Olympians will compete at those locations. But they will be more likely to compete in Lake Ohrid in Macedonia on August 30th, Nantou in Taiwan on September 19th, Chun’An in China on October 15th, and Hong Kong on October 24th during the series.
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