At the 2012 Australian Open Water Swimming Championships in the Champion Lakes Regatta Centre in Perth this past Saturday, emerging Canadian star Richard Weinberger flew in for some good, stiff competition.
5K into the race, the young man with his eye on the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim steadily pulled away from a global field to win handily in 1 hour 53 minutes.
The men’s results:
1. Richard Weinberger (Canada) 1:53:44.75
2. Rhys Mainstone (Australia) 1:54:26.27
3. Jarrod Poort (Australia) 1:54:39.35
4. Yasunari Hirai (Japan) 1:56:56.37
5. Chris Bryan (Ireland) 1:57:00.50
6. Simon Huitenga (Australia) 1:57:02.33
7. Sam Sheppard (Australia) 1:57:08.43
8. Yuto Kobayashi (Japan) 1:57:16.70
9. Michael Sheil (Australia) 1:58:36.07
10. Kenichi Doki (Japan) 1:58:58.79
11. Phillip Ryan (New Zealand) 1:59:09.36
12. Codie Grimsey (Australia) 2:00:37.39
13. Paul Laver (Australia) 2:00:56.20
14. Trent Grimsey (Australia) 2:01:42.68
15. Michael Dehaini (Australia) 2:03:28.85
16. Christopher Robinson (Australia) 2:03:42.47
17. Scott Jackson (Australia) 2:05:29.07
18. Max Halson (Australia) 2:05:31.41
19. Jake Matthews (Australia) 2:19:51.91
Others who cracked the 2-hour mark included:
David Parsonson (17 from Miami) 1:57:39.80
Joshua Richardson (18 from Albany Creek) 1:58:17.67
Chris Deegan (16 from Burnside) 1:59:13.02
Gene Williams (18 from Arena) 1:58:19.04
Thomas Wood (age 15 from Surrey Park) 1:59:50.72
Jack Burnham (17 from Mountain Creek) 1:59:50.93
19-year-old Jarrod Poort of Wests Illawarra followed up a good performance on Saturday with an outstanding one on Sunday when he won the 5K race in a showdown with Trent Grimsey who had flew in from a series of FINA pro marathon swims in Argentina.
1. Jarrod Poort (Australia) 57:21.85
2. Trent Grimsey (Australia) 57:26.64
3. Yasunari Hirai (Japan) 57:26.73
4. Rhys Mainstone (Australia) 57:29.00
5. Sam Sheppard (Australia) 57:29.85
6. Simon Huitenga (Australia) 57:31.26
7. Gene Williams (Australia) 57:37.48
8. Joshua Richardson (Australia) 57:39.87
9. Paul Laver (Australia) 57:48.07
10. Yuto Kobayashi (Japan) 58:45.71
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