Team Italy had a quarter of veterans who were among the oldest swimmers in the 4×1500 mixed open water relay at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan today.

They used their experience to win the relay gold by edging Team Hungary.

29-year-old Barbara Pozzobon, 26-year-old Ginevra Taddeucci, 28-year-old Domenico Acerenza, and 28-year-old Gregorio Paltrinieri won by 4.1 seconds over Hungary’s Bettain Fabian, Anna Olasz, Kristóf Rasovszky, and David Betlehem. Both teams were well ahead of the Aussie bronze medalists Chelsea Gubecka, Moesha Johnson, Nicholas Sloman, Kyle Lee and the rest of the field.

4×1500 Open Water Swimming Relay Results

1. Italy (Barbara Pozzobon, Ginevra Taddeucci, Domenico Acerenza, Gregorio Paltrinieri) 1:10:31.20
2. Hungary (Bettain Fabian, Anna Olasz, Kristóf Rasovszky, David Betlehem) 1:10:35.30
3. Australia (Chelsea Gubecka, Moesha Johnson, Nicholas Sloman, Kyle Lee) 1:11:26.70
4. Germany (Lea Boy, Leonie Beck, Rob Muffels, Oliver Klemet) 1:11:26.90
5. France (Anastasiia Kirpichnikova, Logan Fontaine, Aurelie Muller, David Aubry) 1:11:40.60
6. Brazil (Ana Marcela Cunha, Viviane Jungblut, Diogo Villarinho, Alexandre Finco) 1:13:07.40
7. Japan (Airi Ebina, Kaito Tsujimori, Ichika Kajimoto, Kaiki Furuhata) 1:13:38.50
8. Spain (Carlos Garach Benito, Giullem Pujol, Angela Martinez Guillen, Paula Otero Fernandez) 1:13:41.80
9. USA (Joey Tepper, Brennan Gravley, Mariah Denigan, Katie Grimes) 1:13:58.60
10. Canada (Emma Finlin, Eric Hedlin, Bailey O’Regan, Eric Georges Brown) 1:14:11.80
11. China (Ziyang Zhang, Kexin Wang, Shutong Wu, Rui Meng) 1:14:50.10
12. Argentina (Candela Giordanino, Cecilia Biagioli, Franco Ivo Cassini, Joaquin Moreno) 1:14:53.70
13. Israel (Eva Fabian, Matan Roditi, Yonatan Ahdut, Orian Gablan) 1:15:52.30
14. South Africa (Amica de Jager, Kate Beavon, Matthew Caldwell, Connor Buck) 1:16:12.10
15. Mexico (Martha Sandoval, Paulo Strehlke Delgado, Paulina Alanis Hernandez, Daniel Delgadillo) 1:16:52.70
16. Czech Republic (Lenka Sterbova, Ondrej Zach, Alena Benesova, Martin Straka) 1:17:41.70
17. Kazakhstan (Diana Taszhanova, Galymzhan Balabek, Mariya Fedotova, Lev Cherepanov) 1:17:41.80
18. Korea (Jaehun Park, Junho Sung, Hae Rim Lee, Jeongmin Lee) 1:19:28.70
19. Hong Kong (William Yan Thorley, Pac Tung Nikita Lam, Tsz Yin Nip, China Ting Keith Sin) 1:19:31.80
20. Puerto Rico (Christian B Bayo, Mariela Guadamuro, Alondra Itzel Quiles, Jamarr Andre Bruno) 1:23:31.20
21. Uzbekistan (Nikita Kornilov, Parizoda Iskandarova, Anastasiya Zelinskaya, Vyacheslav Shkretov) 1:26:29.20

Eric Brown helped Canada finish 10th, its best ever finish in the relay event. Canadian coach Mark Perry said, “It’s always good to end with the team event and these guys have really bonded. We talked about Top 10 was our goal and Top 10 would mean that was the best result ever for a Canadian team. They bought into that as what they wanted to achieve and they did it.”

Eric Hedlin talked about his team’s finish only 13.2 seconds behind ninth-place Team USA. “We were right behind everyone so Emma set me up well to be able to pass a few of the teams. I needed to set Bailey O’Regan up very well for her lap, I feel like I did a pretty good job of that. She swam great and then Eric was able to pass (Israel) to come 10th, right behind the Americans, which I think is amazing.”

O’Regan said, “Our goal going into the race was to come Top 10 and we knew it was going to be a pretty close battle from eight to 14, so I think we’re all pretty happy with that result.”

© 2023 Daily News of Open Water Swimming