Weather and sea conditions for this race, which passed without incident, were good. There was an air temperature of 35° Celsius and a water temperature between 20° and 23.5° Celsius. The competition was witnessed by about 2,000 spectators along the shore, and local television, radio and press representatives attended the event.
Kristel Kobrich (CHI)
The race itself was cleanly won by Italy’s Valerio Cleri among men, who prevailed with a time of 2:06:58.05, and Chile’s Kristel Kobrich among women in a time of 2:10:49.77. Cleri’s main opponent was Mazen Mohamed Aziz (EGY), who finished just behind him in 2:07.03.00. Behind Aziz, a battle raged between Allan Do Carmo (BRA) and Yury Kudinov (RUS) for the bronze. Do Carmo would prevail by the smallest margin, as the two finished in 2:07:05.32 and 2:07:05.57 respectively. In the women’s field, Kobrich took gold by managing to out-race Olympic champion Larisa Ilchenko (RUS) and the ever-impressive Angela Maurer (GER). Other high-profile participants in this race include Alice Franco (ITA), Britta Kamrau-Corestein (GER), Yury Kudinov (RUS) and Daniil Serebrennikov (RUS).
Valerio Cleri (ITA)
Organisers of this stage were the Chinese Swimming Association, the Sports Administration of Guangdong Province and the People’s Government of Shantou City.