110 swimmers from 47 National Federations (63 men and 47 women) will try and secure one of the 15 remaining spots per gender for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Marathon Swimming event, at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier in Setubal (POR) this weekend from June 19 to 20.
While twenty athletes* (10 men and 10
women) have already secured their Olympic spot at the FINA World Championships
in Gwangju (KOR) in 2019, another 15 places are on offer during this second and
final Olympic qualification opportunity. Unlike the qualification through the
FINA World Championships (where a maximum of two athletes per NF and per gender
can be retained, provided they finish in the top-10), each nation entered in
Setubal can only qualify one competitor in each gender for the Games. Despite
that, many countries present in Portugal have entered the maximum possible
number of athletes, two men and two women, confirming the priority given to
this discipline and multiplying by two their chances of qualification. A total
of 25 swimmers per gender will take the plunge at the 10km Marathon Swimming
races at the upcoming Olympic Games.
Repeating the 2012 and 2016
scenarios, the world's open water elite will race in the estuary of the Sado
River, heading towards the Atlantic Ocean, located about 50km south of the
Portuguese capital, Lisbon. The women's race is scheduled to start at 4pm (GMT)
on Saturday June 19, while the men's event will be at 4pm (GMT) on Sunday June
20. Results and qualified athletes will be immediately available on FINA
website.
Several big names of the discipline
are in Setubal for the qualifier, namely: Oussama Mellouli (TUN) winner of the
qualification event in 2012, and then gold medallist at the London Games (where
he also won bronze in the 1500m free, after the Olympic title in this pool
event in 2008), Brazil's veterans Allan do Carmo and Diogo Villarinho, as well
as Macedonia's Evgenij Pop Acev.
In the women's field, athletes to
watch for include Hungary's up-and-coming ace Anna Olasz, Portugal’s Angelica
Andre and Ecuador's Samantha Arevalo amongst others.
Qualified athletes as of today*:
MEN
Florian WELLBROCK (GER)
Marc-Antoine OLIVIER (FRA)
Rob MUFFELS (GER)
Kristof RASOVSZKY (HUN)
Jordan WILIMOVSKY (USA)
Gregorio PLATRINIERI (ITA)
Ferry WEERTMAN (NED)
Alberto MARTINEZ (ESP)
Mario SANZULLO (ITA)
David AUBRY (FRA)
WOMEN
Xin XIN (CHN)
Haley ANDERSON (USA)
Rachele BRUNI (ITA)
Lara GRANGEON (FRA)
Ana Marcela CUNHA (BRA)
Ashley TWICHELL (USA)
Kareena LEE (AUS)
Finnia WUNRAM (GER)
Leonie BECK (GER)
Sharon van ROUWENDAAL (NED)
Detailed race reports will be
available on FINA website, while photos and videos will be shared on FINA
social media.
Fédération Internationale de Natation
(FINA)
The Fédération Internationale de
Natation, founded in 1908, is the governing body for aquatics worldwide. FINA's
five discipline Swimming, Open Water Swimming, Diving, Water Polo and Artistic
Swimming - are all included in the Olympic programme. High Diving made its
first appearance in FINA events at the 2013 FINA World Championships. FINA
counts 209 affiliated National Federations on the five continents and has its
headquarters in Lausanne (SUI).
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