Paltrinieri and Acerenza left Wellbrock in their wake as the two finished within 1.4 seconds of each other. Wellbrock would finish in third place finishing 14.4 seconds behind the new world champion Paltrinieri, in a photo finish with France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier. 

Both Italian swimmers were members of the 4x1500 mixed relay that finished in third place on the first day of open water swimming. Paltrinieri excited fans at Duna Arena on the last day of pool swimming competition by challenging the world record in the 1500m freestyle event, swimming the second fastest time in history. He was under world record pace for 1450 meters, and because he was swimming in an outside lane he was well aware of the support he had from the fans in the Duna Arena. His winning time in the pool was a new championship record. 

On the second day of open water competition he struggled at the end of the 5km but came away with a silver medal.


Paltrinieri owns 12 medals at the FINA World Championships, four of them gold - three of them from 1500m events. A victory in the 10km becomes his first open water gold medal, and it makes him the second man to double up in the 1500 and 10K at the same Worlds after Germany’s Florian Wellbrock did it in 2019. 

Paltrinieri’s first-ever open water medal was as a member of the Team Open Water 5km event at the 2019 World Championships; Domenico Acerenza was on the same relay also earning his first FINA open water swimming medal. 

“I have won four medals – in every event I have done, I got a medal,” Paltrinieri said. “I am really happy with this championship, it’s been really cool. It’s been so hot today, much worse than two days ago, but I told my coach that I wanted to stop and feed and get a drink every single lap and that’s what we did, so probably that was the key and I got properly hydrated. Being on a podium with a friend of mine, Domenico, whom we live together with, we swim together, we’ve been together for ten years now, it’s beautiful. I wanted to win, I wanted to do my best today, I pushed. In the first half I was looking for drag, just swimming behind someone else, then I improved in the last 200 meters. I saw a chance and I took it. After ten days of competition, one after another, it has been challenging mentally, but it’s cool, we have prepared for this.” 

“Finishing 1-2 is the dream, we have worked really hard for this, we are incredibly happy. The race was amazing, very fast in the last two laps, I feel so good, the silver is amazing. I was preparing for this event, of course I did the relay and the 5 kilometres, but I knew this was my event, and everything worked out pretty well for me and for the team.” said silver medalist Acerenza.

The Italian team has won a total of 5 open water medals over 3 days of competition at Lupa Lake;  1 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze.  The German team has only 4 medals today, but two of them are gold.

Wellbrock holds the distinction of winning medals in all 5 of the pool and open water races he entered in Budapest - a gold in the 5K and 4x1500 relay, a silver in the 800 free, and a bronze in the 1500.

“I have mixed feelings, because I couldn’t defend my title, but I am quite happy with the bronze medal,” Wellbrock said. “I have felt it yesterday how much the last race has taken out of me, but I tried to recover quickly to start here. Because of this, I am satisfied with the bronze, the other two on the podium were incredibly strong, Domenico only came for the open water events, Gregorio perhaps has more routine in recovering than I have, he’s been swimming for longer than I do. We experienced these kind of conditions in Tokyo, that’s why I feel good in this kind of weather, but the temperature didn’t make it easier for sure. It’s been a challenging race for us, flat water, no waves, so it wasn’t easy to master these conditions today, but I think everyone did a good job.”

OPENING SPRINTS

400m - Gregory Paltrinieri (ITA) - 5:25.0

800m - Domenico Acerenza (ITA) - 9:24.2

1.5km

Florian Wellbrock (GER) 18:06.1

Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA)  +1.8 seconds back - 38.2 strokes per minute’

Domenico Acerenza (ITA) +1.9 seconds back - 33.0 strokes per minute

Gregory Paltrinieri (ITA) 

Gregory Paltrinieri (ITA)  +3.2 seconds back - 39.7 strokes per minute


2.5K

Florian Wellbrock (GER) 28.04

Mykhailo Romamchuk (UKR)  +4.4 seconds back

David Betlehem (HUN)  + 5.8 second back

Kristof Rasovszky (HUN)  +6 seconds back

Alberto Martinez (ESP)  +8 seconds back 

NOTE: TIMES FOR THESE SWIMMERS DO NOT APPEAR at 2.5km

Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA)  +1.8 seconds back - 38.2 strokes per minute’

Domenico Acerenza (ITA) +1.9 seconds back - 33.0 strokes per minute

Gregory Paltrinieri (ITA)  +3.2 seconds back - 39.7 strokes per minute

4.9K  MIDPOINT of RACE 

Florian Wellbrock (GER) 55.38.7

Domenico Acerenza (ITA) +1.6 seconds back - 33.5 strokes per minute

Gregory Paltrinieri (ITA)  +2.5 seconds back - 39.5 strokes per minute

Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA)  +2.9 seconds back - 38.3 strokes per minute

David Betlehem (HUN)  + 6.0 seconds back - 44.0 strokes per minute

7.5KM 

Nicholas Sloman (AUS)  1:24.12 - 39.6 strokes per minute 

Florian Wellbrock (GER) +.4 seconds back - 31.4 strokes per minute

Gregory Paltrinieri (ITA)  +2.2 seconds back -  40.2 strokes per minute

Domenico Acerenza (ITA) +3.2 seconds back - 35.2 strokes per minute

Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA)  +4.3 seconds back - 39.9 strokes per minute

8.8KM

Florian Wellbrock (GER) 1:38.51.57 - 31 strokes per minute

Niklas Frach (GER) +.3 seconds back - 31.8 strokes per minute

Gregory Paltrinieri (ITA)  +.5 seconds back -   41.5 strokes per minute

Domenico Acerenza (ITA) + 1.0 seconds back -  35.4 strokes per minute

Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA)  +2.1 seconds back - 41.3 strokes per minute


FINISH 

Gregorio Paltrinieri - GOLD MEDAL - 1:50.56.8  The world champion/gold medalist swam the 10km event in 4520 strokes; an average of 40.4 strokes per minute.

Domenico Acerenza (ITA)  SILVER MEDAL  +1.4  seconds back -  The silver medalist swam the 10km event in 3840 strokes; an average of 34.4 strokes per minute.

Florian Wellbrock (GER) + 14.4 seconds back,  The bronze medalist swam the 10km event in 3036 strokes; an average of 30.40 strokes per minute.

AIR, WATER TEMPS & STATS

The water temperature measured by the FINA Officials before the race was 28.3 and the air temperature at the start of the race was 34, but increased to 37 degrees at the finish.  A total of 58 swimmers finished the event. Two swimmers that were on the entry list did not swim (DNS) and four swimmers did not finish (DNF) the race.

POST-RACE PRESS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Wellbrock (on 3rd medal) "I didn't expect a result like this. It was my fifth start and fifth medal at Worlds so I am really happy with the bronze. It was a really tough race. After the 5K, there wasn't enough time (for me) to recover from the 10K so I am totally happy with my bronze swim.

Acerenza (on silver medal after relay) "I worked for the 10K so I am really happy with this medal. Last night, if anybody asked me 'tomorrow are you going to win a medal?' my answer was 'I don't know, maybe no.' So I am really happy (with the medal) and happy with the 1-2 (with Gregorio).

Paltrinieri (bronze relay, silver 5K, gold 10K) "It has been a beautiful championships - fourth medal in five races. It's pretty good and yeah I felt tired today because the schedule is one after another but it was a good race. I enjoy Budapest a lot every time I come here so it is nice.

Paltrinieri  "It was much slower than the 5K because it is double the distance and also it was really hot. At the start, we weren't pushing so much and then the second part, we improved a little bit of speed. It was a tough race - last year we came here and it was super cold and now it is super hot. Open water is adapting to the conditions so it is alright.

Wellbrock "When you are an open water swimmer, you have to deal with different conditions and today was a really hot race similar to Tokyo last year. But the air temperature was a little bit higher I'm not sure. Maybe the temperature today was the biggest competitor today for everybody.

DA (on trying to catch Gregorio or worrying about Florian) "I was more focused to catch Gregorio. We train together and we race every day in training. This is a race and everybody wants to win.

GP (on race prep) "The race started at 12, so I woke up at 8:30 - three and a half hours before. I went to breakfast and came here at 10:20. I didn't warm up - just a little bit of stretching outside and a lot of stuff out of the water. I didn't jump in the water until before the race and that's it. Because it was really hot, I stayed a little bit longer in the hotel in the air conditioning.

FW (on race prep) "I did a little bit of warm up in the water just finding the feeling for, I don't know, 400 meters. It's not a lot but I just jumped in and hopefully had a good feel.

GP (on what he ate) "I had a big bowl of yogurt with cereal and then I had three (slices of) bread with marmalade and then I had a cappuccino and eggs. A lot of things.

DA "It was a typical Italian breakfast!

GP "Everything I saw, I took it, just in case!

DA "Eggs and bacon.

GP (on having confidence) "I had confidence in myself - I knew I was in good shape. But you never know in open water competition. Flo is my worst enemy so you never know if he is going to pass me or not. I had confidence in myself and I knew he was there. I was a little bit tired but today was just managing the race and not pushing too much at the start and then try to be aggressive the last lap.

GP (on passing Wellbrock) "No, I did not (think I had it). I tried the same thing in the 5K and I couldn't so sometimes I can do it and sometimes I cannot. In the 5K, my approach was similar to try and improve the speed the last lap and I couldn't and he passed me the last lap. And today I did it. I felt a little bit better because in the 10K you don't have to push so much at the start so my technique was more relaxed. I got to the 8K and I was feeling better than the other day so probably that's the key.