17-year-old Ana Marcela Cunha won today’s FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup (Maratona Internacional de Santos – Trophy Renata Agondi).

Ana Marcela played her cards right, taking over after the last turn buoy with 1.1K to go from Olympic 10K champion Larisa Ilchenko and American Chloe Sutton under calm seas with no wind.

“In the end, I sprinted to a two-body advantage and finally defeated the Olympic champion, Larisa,” said Ana Marcela who was carried around the beach on the shoulders of her boisterous fans. “I always hit the limit, but this time I achieved my goal. Now I will prepare myself well for the World Championships in Canada where I am going to strive for a medal – as well as all the other World Cup races until October.”

Italy’s Martina Grimaldi and and Alice Franco finished second and third in an extremely tight sprint to the finish.

The men’s race was so close and so hotly contested that it took time to determine the final results. After a lengthy review of the photo-finish, the officials awarded the victory to Russia’s Evgeny Drattsev – which seemed deserving since he had led the pack for much of the race. Chad Ho of South Africa finished second.

Photos courtesy of Satiro Sodré of the Brazilian Swimming Federation.

Copyright © 2010 by World Open Water Swimming Association