Hungary takes mixed relay to close out spring portion of Open Water Swimming World Cup

 

Image Source Lucas Cipriano/World Aquatics

The Hungarians had a resounding one-minute win over the Italians in the Mixed 4x1500m Relay in Setubal, Portugal.

The Hungarian team of Bettina Fabian, Mira Szimczak, Kristof Rasovszky, and David Betlehem won the mixed relay Sunday at the third stop of the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup in Setubal, Portugal as the team had a comfortable lead on the Italians that won the silver medal.

Going with the traditional order of two women up front with two men at the back, the Hungarians (1:24:13.1) had a full-minute lead over the Italians (1:25:32.6) at the finish. The Italians led off with Barbara Pozzobon and Arianna Bridi, putting themselves four seconds ahead of their European rivals. It appeared as if it was going to be another match race between the two open water powers while the Italians anchored with yesterday’s 10K champ Andrea Manzi and Saturday’s fifth-place finisher Mario Sanzullo

Rasovszky opened up a big lead on Manzi, splitting a 19:07 to Manzi’s 19:36 and it was clear sailing into the finish for Betlehem, one of the rising stars in open water s swimming.

The French team finished third overall at 1:27:55.0 despite having yesterday’s 10K champ Caroline Jouisse swimming the second leg. The intensity of yesterday’s finish clearly still had an effect on her on Sunday as she lost contact with the lead pack, splitting a 22:20 on the second leg while the likes of Bridi (21:34) and Szimcsak (21:44) pulled away.

Thanks to the opening splits from Fabian (21:03) and Pozzobon (21:08), those two teams got in some clear water early away from the French team, as they won the bronze with Lara Grangeon, Jouisse, Axel Reymond, and Jules Wallart at 1:27:55.0.

The Open Water World Cup 2023 season will continue from 5-6 August in the Olympic site in Paris, after the July World Aquatics Championships in Japan, where open water swimming will begin July 14 with the women’s 10km where the first batch of Olympic qualification spots will be up for grabs.