MEN'S 25KM INDIVIDUAL

Italy’s Dario Verani was the Master of the Marathon winning the men’s 25km race in a time of 5:02.21.5 by overtaking Axel Reymond of France in the final 50-meter sprint to the finish.  The Italian swimmer captured Italy’s second gold medal which was also his first world championship medal.  The versatile Verani was the 5K bronze medalist in May of 2021 at the European Championships.  Verani is trained by Fabrizio Antonelli, who is also the coach of Gregorio Paltrinieri and Domenico Acerenza - each stood twice on the medals podium at Lupa Lake.  Verani’s margin of victory over Reymond was just 1.2 seconds; Hungary’s Peter Galicz finished 13.9 seconds behind the Italian 25km champion.

The Italian haul of 6 medals, 2 of each variety, confirmed that the FINA Championships Trophy will be heading to Rome following the medal ceremonies on the last day of open water competition. Italy’s points tally of 134 points was decisive ahead of Germany’s 119 points and France’s 96 points.  The nations of Europe dominated the scoring for the FINA Championships Trophy taking the top four positions in the table.

WOMEN'S 25KM INDIVIDUAL

Ana Marcela Cunha, the most decorated female open water swimmer in history won the women’s 25k, slapping the touchpad at 5:24.15.0.  Her 7 FINA World Championship gold medals include 5 in the 25km distance.  All 14 of the medals won at the World Championships are in open water events and she has stood on the medals podium in every edition of the FINA World Championship event beginning in Shanghai 2011. Coached by Fernando Possenti, Cunha’s medal tally included gold medals in the 5km and the 25km and a bronze in the 10km.

Brazil was 5th place in points in the tally for the FINA Championships Trophy, and every point was scored by Cunha. FINA recognized her as the Open Water Swimmer of the Year 7 times.

Her productivity is also matched by her longevity in the open water disciplines. The Brazilian placed fifth in the first edition of the Marathon 10km at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, one of only two active swimmers at Lupa Lake with this experience.  She overcame the disappointment of failing to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics and her 10th place finish on Copacabana Beach at her home Olympics, when expectations of a medal were at their highest. 

Cunha’s most significant and celebrated victory was on 4 August 2021 when she clinched the Olympic Gold medal at the Covid-delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Odaiba Marine Park. Cunha’s margin of victory over Tokyo silver medalist Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) was less than a second.  The very same Dutch swimmer finished in third place in today’s 25km, this time only 0.3 seconds behind Cunha.  Germany’s Lea Boy finished just 0.2 seconds back but ahead of van Rouwendaal in order to clinch the silver medal;  Boy’s first medal at Lupa Lake was gold in the Mixed Relay.

AIR, WATER TEMPS & STATS

The water temperature measured by the FINA Officials before the race was 27.4 and the air temperature at the start of the race(s) was 24, but increased to 36 degrees at the finish.  A total of 20 male and13 female swimmers finished the event. One male and one female swimmer that was on the entry list did not swim (DNS);  five male and two female swimmers did not finish (DNF) the race.

 

Open Water Medal Table at the 2022 FINA World Championships 

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
ITALY	2	2	2	6
GERMANY	2	2	1	5
BRAZIL	2		1	3
NETHERLANDS	1		1	2
FRANCE		2		2
HUNGARY		1	1	2
UKRAINE			1	1

 

WHAT THE MEN'S 25KM MEDALLISTS HAD TO SAY

GOLD - Dario Verani (ITA) 5:02:21.5

“I’m very pleased, it’s a fantastic end of the day and the World Championships. It was a very tough race, the heat made this distance particularly challenging. I knew I was in good shape and over the last hundred metres I could see that I was in better shape than Alex and I could win the race. The tactics worked, to save energy and swim with the right technique, so I had enough strength left at the end.”

SILVER - Axel Reymond (FRA) 5:02:22.7

“There were no tactics for me today, because every single time I choose one plan, it’s always going the other way. So I try to adapt everything, now in case of this race I knew that many swimmers were good in the sprint, I knew I had to lead and try to make them tired. I tried everything in the last 5 kilometres and over the last lap it’s been really hard out there today, it was pretty hot. At the last buoy I felt somebody behind me and it was Dario, I went ‘it would be really hard to finish’ and yeah, he was just too strong."

BRONZE - Peter Galicz (HUN) 5:02:35.4

“I thought I was going to talk about my 6-8^th place finish in the post-race interviews – and now here I’m, as a bronze medallist. It’s amazing, even a shock for myself. I’m so grateful for so many people and for those who watched all five hours live and followed us during the whole morning – I’m saying to all: you’re damn great kings! I just wanted to have a good travelling speed and stay in the top ten, then I managed to keep up with the leaders towards the end, and for the last round we could escape, pass the girls and from that point it was sure that we couldn’t be caught. This medal… I mean, my family and coaches helped me a lot on the way leading here, but I want to pay a special thank for my former teammate Daniel Szekelyi. He always supported me, pushed me, even if he is no longer swimming, he still was behind me, came to my meets. Buddy, wherever you are, you have to know, I couldn’t have done this without you!”

WHAT THE WOMEN'S 25KM MEDALLISTS HAD TO SAY

GOLD - Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) 5:24:15.0

“It was a very hard 25km, I did my best in the past few days mentally and physically too. For me it was a very important part of the race today how I could go around the buoy, because you have to position yourself to the right side, and in the right way, thus you can save a lot of energy, and I did that well in this race, so I’m happy and satisfied that I had enough power left until the end. This is my best result here and my strongest overall World Championships so far.”

SILVER - Lea Boy (GER) 5:24:15.2

“After the gold in the relay, my wish was kind of granted regarding a medal, but now I have an extra one in an individual event. I knew there were four swimmers together for the last sprint, luckily I managed to get second. I could have been fourth as well, but I managed to push for one last time. Obviously you see if there is someone up front or behind, I did managed to get a glimpse, that there were two behind me. The first 15 kilometers were quite slow, we did not get that tired, after that no one wanted to be in the first position, so a big bunch formulated. That’s not the best of situations, then the guys swam through as well from left and right.”

BRONZE - Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) 5:24:15.3

“At some point on the last lap I was second, but I did not like that position, because that way I could have not chosen the right direction at the end, at the finish, and I did not want to get into a sandwich position, resulting in no medals. I just waited and waited, and when I started to sprint I was like ‘oh I still have power’, and then over the last five metres they came closer to my hip and I touched for a medal, so I am happy with that, I did not want to be fourth this way. It was hard out there today, after 10 kilometers I already had elbow pain and I had to fight mentally to push myself.”

MEDALS DISTRIBUTION

ITALY: 1B (Relay) -1B (W5) - 1S (M5K) - 1G (M10) - 1S (M10) - 1G (M25)

GERMANY: 1G (Relay) - 1G (M5) - 1S (W10) - 1B (M10) - 1S (W25)

BRAZIL: 1G (W5) - 1B (W10) 1G (W25)

NETHERLANDS:  1G (W10) - 1B (W25)

FRANCE: 1S (W5) - 1S (M25)

HUNGARY: 1S (Relay) - 1B (M25)

UKRAINE: 1B (M5)

 

MIXED 6KM RELAY - June 26

GOLD - GERMANY - 1:04.40.5

Lea Boy, Oliver Klemet, Leonie Back, Florian Wellbrock

SILVER - HUNGARY - 1:04.43.0  +2.5 seconds behind

Reka Rohacs, Anna Olasz, David Betlehem, Kristof Rasovszky

BRONZE - ITALY - 1:04.43.0  +2.5 seconds behind

Ginevra Taddeucci, Giulia Gabbrielleschi, Domenico Acerenza, Gregorio Paltrinieri

MEN’S 5K - June 27

GOLD – Florian Wellbrock (GER), 52:48.80 

SILVER – Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA), 52:52.70 

BRONZE – Mykhailo Romanchuk (UKR), 53:13.90 

WOMEN’S 5K - June 27

GOLD - Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA)  - 57:57.9

SILVER  - Aurelie Muller (FRA) - 57.53.8  +0.9 seconds behind

BRONZE - Guilia Gabbrielleschi (ITA) - 57:54.9  +2.0 seconds behind

 

WOMEN’S 10K - June 29

GOLD - Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) - 2:02:29.2

SILVER - Leonie Beck (GER) - 2:02.97  +0.5 seconds behind

BRONZE - Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) - 2:02.30.7  +1.5 seconds behind

 

MEN’S 10K - June 29

GOLD – Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) - 1:50.56.8  

SILVER –  Domenico Acerenza (ITA) - 1:50.58.2  +1.4 seconds behind

BRONZE – Florian Wellbrock (GER) - 1:51.11.2  +14.4 seconds behind

 

MEN’S 25K - June 30

GOLD - Dario Verani (ITA) - 5:02.21.5

SILVER - Axel Reymond (FRA) - 5:02.22.7.1  +1.2 seconds behind

BRONZE - Peter Galicz (HUN) - 5:02.35.4  +13.9 seconds behind

 

WOMEN’S 25K - June 30

GOLD - Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) - 5:24.15.0  

SILVER - Lea Boy (GER) - 5:24.15.2  +0.2 seconds behind

BRONZE - Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) - 5:24.15.3  +0.3 seconds behind

 

GOLD MEDALISTS

2 - Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) - Women’s 5K & Women’s 25K

2 -  Florian Wellbrock (GER) - Men’s 5K & MIXED 6K RELAY

Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) - Women’s 10K

Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) - Men’s 10K

Dario Verani (ITA) - Men’s 25K

Lea Boy (GER) - MIXED 6K RELAY

Leonie Back (GER) - MIXED 6K RELAY

Oliver Klemet (GER) - MIXED 6K RELAY

SILVER MEDALISTS

Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) - Men’s 5K

Aurelie Muller (FRA) - Women’s 5K

Leonie Beck (GER) - Women’s 10K

Domenico Acerenza (ITA) - Men’s 10K

Axel Reymond (FRA) - Men’s 25K

Lea Boy (GER) - Women’s 25K

Reka Rohacs (HUN)  - Mixed 6K RELAY

Anna Olasz (HUN)  - Mixed 6K RELAY

David Betlehem (HUN)  - Mixed 6K RELAY

Kristof Rasovszky (HUN)  - Mixed 6K RELAY

 

BRONZE MEDALISTS

Mykhailo Romanchuk (UKR) - Men’s 5K

Guilia Gabbrielleschi (ITA) - Women’s 5K

Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) - Women’s 10K

Florian Wellbrock (GER) - Men’s 10K

Peter Galicz (HUN) - Men’s 25K

Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) - Women’s 25K

Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) - Mixed 6K Relay

Ginevra Taddeucci (ITA) - Mixed 6K Relay

Giulia Gabbrielleschi (ITA) - Mixed 6K Relay

Domenico Acerenza (ITA) - Mixed 6K Relay

 

MULTI MEDALISTS

Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA): Two Gold:  Women’s 5K & Women’s 25K;  1 Bronze:  Women’s 10K

Florian Wellbrock (GER):  Two Gold:  Men’s 5K & Mixed Team Relay;  1 Bronze Men’s 10K

Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA): 1 Gold Men’s 10K;  1 Silver Men’s 5K;  1Bronze Mixed 6K Relay

Sharon van Roywendaal (NED):  1 Gold Women’s 10K;  1 Bronze Women’s 25K

Leonie Beck (GER):  1 Gold Mixed Relay; 1 Silver Women’s 10K

Lea Boy (GER): 1 Gold Mixed Relay;  1 Silver Women’s 25K 

Domenico Acerenza (ITA) - 1 Silver Men’s 10K;  1 Bronze Mixed Team Relay

Giulia Gabbrielleschi (ITA) - 1 Bronze Women’s 5K;    1 Bronze Mixed Team Relay

 

FINA OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIP TROPHY

1. ITALY - 134 points  (86 Men;  34 Women;  14 Mixed) 

2.  GERMANY - 119 points (40 Men;  61 Women;  18 Mixed)

3. FRANCE - 96 points (46 Men;  38 Women;  12 Mixed)

4. HUNGARY - 68 points (39 Men;  13 Women;  16 Mixed)

5. BRAZIL - 66 points  (0 Men;  66 Women;  0  Mixed)

6. NETHERLANDS - 55 points (20 Men;  35 Women;  0 Mixed)

7. AUSTRALIA - 40 points (23 Men;  9 Women;  8 Mixed)

8. UNITED STATES - 31 points (5 Men;  20 Women;  6 Mixed)

9. UKRAINE - 20 points (22 Men;  0 Women;  0 Mixed)

10. SPAIN - 16 points (3 Men;  13 Women;  0 Mixed)