The 10km Marathon Swimming Olympic test event finished on June 1 at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in the Shunyi District of Beijing (CHN). The women’s race (along with the invitational event for both men and women) commenced at 9am on Saturday, May 31, while the men’s race took place on Sunday. A total of seventy swimmers from about 30 nations participated in the races.
It was 16-year old Chloe Sutton (USA) who prevailed in the women’s 10km event with a time of 2:00:48.5, ahead of silver-medallist Martina Grimaldi (ITA), who finished in 2:01:19.7. Bronze went to another Italian, Alice Franco (2:01:36.5). As such, Grimaldi and Sutton were among the 11 women who qualified for the inaugural Olympic event, although Franco, despite her high-rank, did not qualify, as only one swimmer per National Federation was entitled to qualification through this competition. In the men’s field, it was the Bulgarian open water swimming legend Petar Stoychev (BUL) that took gold with a time of 1:59:13.8, followed by second-place finisher Csaba Gercsak (HUN) in 1:59.17.7 and bronze-medallist Rostislav Vitek (CZE) in 1:59:35.5.
Rounding out the list of women who will return in two months for the Beijing Games are the following: Marianna Lymperta (GRE) 4th in 2:02:10.7, Nataliya Samorodina (UKR) 5th at 2:02:35.3, Kristel Kobrich (CHI) 6th in 2:02:47.8, Imelda Martinez (MEX) 7th at 2:02:49.5, Eva Berglund (SWE) 9th at 2:03:54.6, Teja Zupan (SLO) 10th in 2:04:25.5, Antonella Bogarin (ARG) 12th at 2:04:27.3, Olga Beresneva (ISR) 13th at 2:04:27.4, and Daniela Inacio (POR) 14th at 2:04:29.6. In addition to the men’s medallists, the following swimmers qualified: Chad Ho (RSA) 4th at 1:59:37.6, Erwin Maldonado (VEN) 5th at 1:59:37.9, Allan Do Carmo (BRA) 6th at 1:59:38.8, Damian Blaum (ARG) 7th at 1:59:39.1, Daniel Katzir (ISR) 9th at 1:59:39.5, Jose Francisco Hervas (ESP) 11th at 1:59:40.4, and Arseniy Lavrentyev (POR)14th at 1:59:54.1.
Furthermore, Alejandra Gonzalez (MEX) finished in a respectable 8th place, but did not gain qualification because her compatriot Martinez filled-out the one-swimmer-per-nation quota allowed for in this qualifier. Likewise, Nika Kozamernik (SLO) missed qualification despite her solid 11th place finish, as fellow Slovenian Zupan took the 10th, and better, spot. The same rule applied to the men’s field, where other notable finishes included Jakub Fichtl (CZE), 8th with a time of 1:59:39.2, Rolando Salas (VEN) 10th at 1:59:39.7, Diego Nogueira (ESP) 12th at 1:59:40.8, and Michael Dmitriev (ISR) 13th at 1:59:45.1.