Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.
Alexander Studzinski has experienced problems with his shoulders for a decade. His first shoulder surgery occurred in 2008, but he continued to compete on the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit for years.
His latest shoulder problems began again in April 2015 as he was forced to cut back on his training and competition schedule.
But he focused on maintaining his stamina and strength and, ultimately, emerged victorious after a long period of patience and preparation at the FINA Open Water Grand Prix race in Ohrid Lake in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia on August 19th. His 5 hour 15 minute 14 second victory in the 33 km Ohrid Lake Swim Marathon was as close as possible over local Macedonian hero Evgenij Pop Acev by one second and third-place Guillermo Bertola of Argentina by two seconds.
Men’s Results:
1. Alexander Studzinski (Germany) 5:15:14.00
2. Evgenij Pop Acev (Macedonia) 5:15:15.00
3. Guillermo Bertola (Argentina) 5:15:16.00
4. Edoardo Stochino (Italy) 5:15:18.00
5. Damian Blaum (Argentina) 5:15:22.00
6. Xavier Desharnais (Canada) 5:15:24.00
7. Matheus Emerim Evangelista (Brazil) 5:16:35.00
8. Bertrand Venturi (France) 5:19:20.00
9. Edouard Lehoux (France) 5:21:35.00
10. Aleksandar Ilievski (Macedonia) 5:22:13.00
11. Balaudo Aquiles (Argentina) 5:32:22.00
12. Nicolas Luciano Sequardo (Argentina) 5:47:13.00
13. Matias Diaz Hernandez (Argentina) 5:47:22.00
14. Aleksandar Pancevski (Macedonia) 6:26:20.00
DNF Marcel Schouten (Netherlands)
On the women’s side, Italy went 1-2-3 as the Italian women dominated the 33 km race on Ohrid Lake
Barbara Pozzobón won in 5 hours 15 minutes 51 seconds, only 37 seconds behind the men’s overall winner. Teammate Alice Franco was second in 5:16:24 with 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Martina Grimaldi in third in 5:22:20.
Women’s Results:
1. Barbara Pozzobón (ITA) 5:15:51.00
2. Alice Franco (ITA) 5:16:24.00
3. Martina Grinaldi (ITA) 5:22:20.00
4. Anna Mankevich (Russia) 5:37:39.00
5. Pilar Geijo (Argentina) 5:48:07.00
6. Antonija Bulicic (Croatia) 6:14:14.00
DNF Rita Vanesa Garcia (Argentina)
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