Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

At the end of the RCP Tiburon Mile in San Francisco Bay, 2016 Rio Olympics gold medalist Ferry Weertman took time to describe the end of the Olympic 10 km marathon swim in Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

Weertman won the most dramatic race possible on Copacabana Beach as he led a chase pack to catch Australia’s Jarrod Poort on the last lap of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim.

Poort led by as much as 1 minute 15 seconds and still held onto a 45-second lead with 2 km to go, but Weertman and the rest of the trailing pack were just starting to put on their sprint. With 600 meters to go, Poort was no longer a factor in the race, but the top swimmers were in an 8-wide formation. Each of the men were strung out shoulder-to-shoulder and had an excellent shot at winning the gold medal.

“I had a perfect finish,” Weertman said later about winning over Spyridon Gianniotis [see photo below].

Marcel Wouda, who has coached a number of Dutch world champions including the 2008 Olympic 10K Marathon Swim gold medalist Maarten van der Weijden, focuses on a detail that always benefits his athletes at the world championships and Olympics.

Wouda has a touchpad and places at the end of a fishing pole. Before the 2016 Rio Olympics during his pool workouts, Wouda held the touchpad in front of Weertman so he could practice and perfect his finish technique.

For additional information on Weertman’s race in Rio, visit here (Dutch Treat! Ferry Weertman Wins Olympic 10K Marathon Swim).

For a pre-race prediction of how Weertman would perform at the Olympics, read here.

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Image courtesy of NBCOlympics.com on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.

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