by Kyle Sagendorph//USA Swimming
The 2023 Open Water National
Championships concluded Sunday morning in Sarasota, Florida, with the 5K and
Junior 7.5K events. The competition took place at Nathan Benderson Park.
The men’s 5K was the first group to
brace the water. Spain’s Carlos Garach commanded the start of the race before a
strong surge from Brennan Gravley in the final straightaway catapulted the
American to the lead.
“(Garach) led pretty much the whole
10K and the majority of the race today,” Gravley said. “I used those last two
buoys at the end of the lap, before the last long stretch, to get a jump on
him. I had a couple body-length leads and he made them up. He’s a great pool
swimmer but when he caught back up to me, we kind of just stuck together until
the end. I tried to conserve as much as I could – I'd say with about 300 meters
left, he tried to make another jump and I just ended up riding his hip for
another 150 or so. As soon as he kind of realized that it wasn’t as effective,
I kind of just switched back and went to my legs as early as I could.”
Gravley’s approach earned him the
Open Water National Championships 5K title for the second-consecutive year.
The women’s event went to Katie
Grimes, who completed the sweep of the senior events (5K and 10K) at this
year’s meet.
“It was just about getting
experience,” Grimes said of her takeaways from this week. “Pretty much every
open water race, that (experience) is what I try and get from it and take to
the next race. I feel like I now have a lot of tricks under my belt that I can
use next time.”
The win gives Grimes her fifth career
title, across both junior and senior events, at Open Water National Championships.
The Junior 7.5K rounded out
competition for the day, seeing Grimes’ Sandpipers of Nevada teammate Claire
Weinstein claim the women’s title while Ryan Erisman (Laker Swim) was
victorious in the men’s field.
“I know most of the guys here – I’ve
been to a lot of camps with them, so I’ve really come to know a lot of them,”
Erisman said. “It was really nice to race them today.”
To view full results of the 5K, click
here https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2023-open-waternnationals-5k-complete-results.pdf
Full results of the Junior 7.5K can
be found here https://www.usaswimming.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/2023-open-water-junior-nationals-7-5k-complete-resultsf1d066fa6cbc6a0a9b57ff00009030c2.pdf
For more on the 2023 Open Water
National Championships, visit the event page. https://www.usaswimming.org/event/2023/04/21/default-calendar/open-water-championships
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