After two-time Olympic 10K Marathon Swim medalist (gold in 2016 + silver in 2020) Sharon van Rouwendaal won the World Aquatics 10 km world championship marathon swim in the Old Doha Port in Qatar, she knew she qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games 10 km marathon swim.

But others were not so sure.

While the Olympic qualification race was held on Saturday, the 2024 Paris Olympic qualifiers were just announced.

The Saga of Emma Finlin

Swimming Canada reports, “After thinking she did not qualify after finishing 24th in Doha, Emma Finlin found out she did in fact qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
 
The 18-year-old Finlin just missed earning Canada the continental qualifying spot for the Americas in Saturday’s 10 km race. Martha Sandoval of Mexico captured the Americans qualifying spot by finished 0.7 seconds ahead of her in 23rd place.
 
Today, World Aquatics announced that Canada will receive the unallocated spot for Oceania, which had no competing athletes outside the two Australians already qualified.
 
Therefore, the Oceania Continental Representation position was allocated to the highest-placing woman competitor in the open water swimming 10 km event in Doha whose country was not yet qualified for the Olympics (pursuant to regulation F.1). In this respect, Canada was reallocated this NOC quota spot.
 
As Canada’s top finisher (note Laila Oravsky finished 51st), Swimming Canada will now nominate Finlin to compete for her country in that spot at this summer’s Games in Paris.
 
‘It’s great that we can nominate Emma to the Swimming Canada selection committee and Canadian Olympic Committee to represent at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,’ said Swimming Canada High Performance Director and National Coach John Atkinson. ‘She’s shown great improvement from her 30th-place position at the 2023 World Championships. She’s improving this year and now she knows she can focus ahead and prepare with her coach Paul Birmingham for Paris.’
 
‘It doesn’t feel real right now,’ said Finlin, who has had an emotional few days. She shared a teary-eyed hug with her mother Saturday when she saw her after the race. ‘I think I was so exhausted after the 10 km, I just broke down into my mom’s arms. It wasn’t even out of disappointment necessarily, but I kind of felt defeated it was so close. I knew I could do it, but it was going to be a really hard thing to achieve. Then being that close hurt a bit. It’s been really emotional because I had accepted I hadn’t made the team. Then when (I sat down with team staff) and they said we had an opportunity, so I got really excited but tried to be really even in case it ended up not working out.’
 
Finlin was in 28th place with half a lap to go in the six-lap race, more than 12 seconds behind Maria Bramont-Arias of Peru. She passed her and three others, finishing nearly 13 seconds ahead of Bramont-Arias, who could have also potentially earned the available Olympic spot, but who came in 25th – behind Finlin.
 
‘I knew going in Mark and my coach Paul from home told me, ‘You don’t know who’s going to be next to you so every spot matters.’ That last lap really hurt, but I knew if I kept going I’d catch as many people as I could.‘
 
‘As I said after the race, it was her best ever swim,’ Perry added. ‘She put herself in the frame, put herself in the mix. It’s a really good job for a young athlete, very promising for the future and I’m very pleased for her.’“

Olympic 10K Marathon Swim Qualification Race Results

1. Sharon van Rouwendaal, Netherlands 1:57:26.80
2. Maria de Valdes Alvarez, Spain 1:57:26.90
3. Angelica Andre, Portugal 1:57:28.20
4. Moesha Johnson, Australia 1:57:30.80
5. Ana Marcela Cunha, Brazil 1:57:31.10
6. Mariah Denigan, USA 1:57:31.10
7. Caroline Laure Jouisse, France 1:57:32.30
8. Arianna Bridi, Italy 1:57:33.20
9. Lisa Pou, Monaco 1:57:33.40
10. Oceane Cassignol, France 1:57:34.90
11. Airi Ebina, Japan 1:57:35.50
12. Bettina Fabian, Hungary 1:57:36.5
13. Angela Martinez Guillen, Spain 1:57:36.60
14. Viviane Jungblut, Brazil 1:57:39.30
15. Katie Grimes, USA 1:57:39.40
16. Jeanette Spiwoks, Germany 1:57:46.00
17. Leah Phoebe Crisp, Great Britain 1:57:50.00
18. Maddy Gough, Australia 1:57:51.70
19. Mafalda Rosa, Portugal 1:57:52.90
20. Leonie Beck, Germany 1:58:11.80
21. Ichika Kajimoto, Japan 1:58:17.40
22. Ginevra Taddeucci, Italy 1:58:21.10
23. Martha Sandoval, Mexico 1:58:21.60
24. Emma Finlin, Canada 1:58:22.30
25. Maria Bramont-Arias, Peru 1:58:35.20
26. Mira Szimcsak, Hungary 1:58:37.50
27. Amica de Jager, South Africa 1:58:38.60
28. Amber Keegan, Great Britain 1:58:38.60
29. Calian Lotter, South Africa 2:00:07.90
30. Paola Perez, Venezuela 2:00:22.50
31. Samantha Arevalo, Ecuador 2:00:55.80
32. Eva Fabian, Israel 2:02:19.80
33. Candela Giordanino, Argentina 2:03:09.10
34. Eden Girloanta, Israel 2:03:56.70
35. Alena Benesova, Czech Republic 2:03:58.90
36. Georgia Makri, Greece 2:04:05.90
37. Xin Xin, China 2:04:21.10
38. Li-Shan Chantal Liew, Singapore 2:04:22.80
39. Tsz Yin Nip, Hong Kong 2:05:10.60
40. Yihan Mao, China 2:06:07.60
41. Lenka Pavlacka, Czech Republic 2:06:12.60
42. Hae Rim Lee, Korea 2:06:14.60
43. Paulina Alanis Hernandez, Mexico 2:06:16.60
44. Klara Bosnjak, Croatia 2:06:25.30
45. Tuna Erdogan, Turkey 2:06:42.60
46. Ana Abad, Ecuador 2:07:26.70
47. Yu-Wen Teng, Taipei 2:07:28.60
48. Spela Perse, Slovenia 2:07:38.70
49. Kamonchanok Kwanmuang, Thailand 2:07:42.10
50. Pac Tung Nikita Lam, Hong Kong 2:08:05.80
51. Laila Oravsky, Canada 2:09:16.40
52. Katja Fain, Slovenia 2:11:00.30
53. Jungju Park, Korea 2:12:15.20
54. Britta Schwengle, Aruba 2:13:36.90
55. Yi-Chen Wang, Taipei 2:15:32.60
56. Yanci Vanegas, Guatemala 2:15:33.20
57. Mariya Fedotova, Kazakhstan 2:16:01.90
58. Diana Taszhanova, Kazakhstan 2:17:32.70
59. Pimpun Choopong, Thailand 2:17:34.90
60. Maria Porres, Guatemala 2:17:36.90
61. Alondra Itzel Quiles, Puerto Rico 2:17:38.80
62. Ruthseli Guadalupe Aponte Teran, Venezuela 2:17:43.60
63. Fatima Portillo, El Salvador 2:21:11.70
64. Ashmitha Chandra, India 2:21:11.80
65. Isabella Hernandez, Dominican Republic 2:21:38.7
66. Mariela Guadamuro, Puerto Rico 2:22:31.30
67. Ashley Yi Ting Ng, Singapore 2:26:08.40
68. Mahalakshmi Porur Kalan Rajagopal Ravi, India OTL
69. Sezen Akanda Boz, Turkey DNF
70. Cecilia Biagioli, Argentina DNF
71. Rafaela Santo, Angola DNF

For more information, visit www.worldaquatics-doha2024.com.

Photo of Emma Finlin courtesy of Swimming Canada/Scott Grant.

© 2024 Daily News of Open Water Swimming

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