Saturday, 27 June 2009 at Setubal Bay, Portugal
With five of the inaugural 10km marathon swimmers at the 2008 Beijing Olympics entered, Thomas Lurz (Germany) won the men’s event in 1h 34m 26s to add to his 5km gold and 10km silver from the 2007 FINA World Championships, the 5km gold and the 10km bronze from the 2008 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships, and 2008 Olympic bronze medal.
In an extremely tight finish, Christian Reichert (GER) took silver in 1h 34m 18.00s and Allan Carmo (Brazil) secured bronze with a time of 1h 34m 18.15s. Spyridon Gianniotis (Greece), who led the race at a swift pace until the last 800m, was 4th in 1h 34m 29s, and Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria) finished 5th in 1h 35m 33s.
A tough race also unfolded in the women’s event, which included four Olympians. The leaders alternated, but Poliana Okimoto (Brazil) prevailed after sprinting to win in 1h 42m 32s. Angela Maurer (Germany) finished 2nd in 1h 42m 33s, and repeated her result from the 2008 Setubal Bay event, while bronze went to another rising German open water star – Stefanie Biller, the silver medallist overall from the 2008 FINA Open Water Grand Prix. Ana Marcela Cunha, winner of the 10km World Cup Race 1 in Santos (Brazil), settled for 4th in 1h 42m 52s.
The race consisted of five 2km rectangular laps. A total of US$20,000 in prize money was awarded. There are 13 stops on the FINA 10km World Cup 2009 circuit, which continues until the last leg in Sharjah (UAE) on October 21. After Setubal, the World Cup races being held this summer are: 23 July 2009 at Lac St. Jean (CAN); 8 August 2009 in Varna (BUL); 12 August 2009 at Lake Annecy (FRA); and 29 August 29 in Copenhagen (DEN).
View slideshow from this year’s event
And for a look back at 2007:
Part 1 featuring Mohamed El Zanaty (2:25:28.80) and Eva Berglund (2:40:56.40) – 9m 56s flashplayer to view
Part 2 9m 52s
You can find out more about Thomas Lurz in this interview from Nov 2008