France and the United States both won gold at the 10km open water events at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships. The World Aquatics Championships is one of the largest events for a single sport with an estimate 2500 athletes from 190 nations participating in 75 events across 6 disciplines (diving, high diving, open water, swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo). For the 10km open water events the top 10 ranked athletes of each gender qualify to the Olympics. The World Aquatics Championships are currently being held in Kazan, Russia from July 24th to August 9th 2015. The open water events were held from July 25th to August 1st 2015.
In the men’s 10km race it was Hungary’s Gergely Gyurta that led a large pack for the first two laps, however staying up front took its toll as by the third lap he was 23 seconds behind the leader, Jordan Wilimovsky of the United States and he would ultimately finish outside of an Olympic qualifying spot in 13th. Wilimovsky used the final lap to extend his lead over the entire field and finished 12 seconds ahead of his closest competitor with a time of 1:49:48.2. Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands won the silver with a time of 1:50:00.3 while Spyridon Gianniotis of Greece won the bronze with a time of 1:50:00.7.
The other athletes to gain an Olympic quota were Sean Ryan (United States), Jack Burnell (Great Britain), Marc-Antoine Olivier (France), Simone Ruffini (Italy), Richard Weinberger (Canada), Allan Do Carmo (Brazil) and Federico Vanelli (Italy).
In the women’s 10km race the top swimmers mostly kept close with each other with France’s Aurelie Muller taking the overall lead starting in the second lap. Going into the final lap Muller and Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands both increased their pace, leaving the rest of the field behind. In the end it was Muller who won gold by 2.4 seconds as she finished with a time of 1:58:04.3, van Rouwendaal finished with a time of 1:58:06.7. The bronze medal went to Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil with a time of 1:58:26.5.
The other athlete to gain an Olympic quota were Rachele Bruni (Italy), Anastasia Krapivina (Russia), Poliana Okimoto (Brazil), Isabelle Harle (Germany), Kalliopi Araouzou (Greece), Haley Anderson (United States) Eva Risztov (Hungary).
In open water swimming athletes are qualified by name, not by nation. For athletes of nations which failed to qualify a quota they will get a second chance at the Olympic swim marathon qualifier to be held in 2016.
Quotas by Nation
- Brazil – 3
- Italy – 3
- United States – 3
- France – 2
- Greece – 2
- Netherlands – 2
- Canada – 1
- Germany – 1
- Great Britain – 1
- Hungary – 1
- Russia – 1
References
OmegaTiming. 16th FINA World Championships – Open Water Results. Access on July 29 2015.
Road to the Olympics 