With the World Aquatics Open Water
Swimming World Cup season soon getting underway in Somabay, Egypt we're in
store for some exciting racing in the Red Sea.
Stout Somabay Men’s & Women’s
Fields
Forty-six men and 27 women across 24
national federations will be competing in the series that includes the Men’s
and Women’s 10km individual events on Sunday. This will be followed on Monday
with the Mixed 4x1500m Team Relay, an event that will again be featured at the
World Aquatics Championships this July in Japan. Look for a front-ended relay
competition, with the top four teams from last year’s Worlds in Budapest –
Germany, Hungary, Italy and France – all bringing strong swimmers to Somabay.
Most of the world’s best open water
swimmers will be in attendance, including reigning Olympic champions Florian
Wellbrock (GER) and Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) as well as women’s 10km World
Aquatics Champion Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) and men’s 25K World champion
Dario Verani (ITA).
There’s plenty of ka-ching to race
for, with $15,000 USD going to both the men’s and women’s winners of the 10km
race in Somabay. Things get extra interesting for the overall winners of the
World Cup as they earn an additional $50,000 USD in prize money.
More About the Men
Last year, two men shared top 2022
honours: Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) and Kristof Rasovszky (HUN).
Rasovszky is here ready to defend his
co-World Cup overall title, something he says he’s keen to do coming off the
Hungarian Swimming Championships in the pool three weeks ago.
“I’m always trying to be on top of
the World Cup overall, so it’d be nice to win again,” Rasovszky said after his
pre-race swim. We’ve put in a lot of kilometres this last week and the week
before, so maybe we’re not in the absolute best form, but it’s okay as we’re
preparing for the World Champs.
“The conditions here are incredible.
The water’s probably 25 degrees, which is perfect for swimming,” Rasovszky
added. “And there’s some wind, so it’s going to be a tactical race if the
conditions are the same as they are today. I’m excited about what’s going to
happen tomorrow.”
Paltrinieri will make his World Cup
2022 debut when the tour comes near the Italian’s home in Golfo Aranci, Italy
for the World Cup’s second stop in just under two weeks’ time.
Defending Olympic champion Florian
Wellbrock is an athlete that competitors mentioned they’d especially have their
eye on in the individual. The 25-year-old German is coming off a lifetime-best
of 14:34.89 in the 1500m in the pool, a time he swam three weeks ago in Berlin.
The effort was the fastest so far in 2023 and also set a new German national
record.
“With this pool competition, my
preparation to start the open water season is a little different than before.
I’m very excited about the race tomorrow, but let’s see.”
With a small taper for the racing in
Berlin, Wellbrock said that the last couple of weeks he’s been swimming 60-70
kilometres instead of the more customary 80km weeks.
A likely animator of the race could
be Wellbrock’s training partner Mykhailo Romanchuk. Coming off racing in the
pool in Stockholm and then Berlin, the 26-year-old Ukrainian has had tremendous
success in the pool, winning Olympic silver in the 1500m freestyle in Tokyo,
and bronze in the 800m freestyle at both the Olympics and last year’s World
Championships.
Romanchuk is a rising star in the
open water ranks, quickly establishing himself as one of the most well-rounded
distance swimmers in the world, with the speed to hang in the pool and the
endurance to last in the marathon.
“I’m concentrating more on the pool
swimming. Open water swimming for me now is something new, some new
experience,” Romanchuk said.
“I’m here to represent my country
first, and then myself. The focus is on the upcoming World Championships, but
of course, I want to race as best as possible here as well.”
France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier was
fourth at the World Aquatics Championships last year in Budapest in the 10km
and has to be considered one of the favourites in the World Cup 2023 season as
he gears up for a potential home Olympics next year. Olivier, age 26, can be a
star attraction in Paris at the Olympics and will be a medal favourite if he
can continue to race alongside the best.
World Class Women’s Field
Somabay entrants Ana Marcela Cunha
and Sharon van Rouwendaal have dominated the 10km at the international level,
winning the last two Olympic gold medals, and three of the four World Cup stops
in 2022. Cunha, age 31, and van Rouwendaal, age 29, sat number one and two in
the world series events last year and will be expected to come down to the wire
once more in Egypt.
This year’s World Cup opener has
special significance for Cunha as the Brazilian is coming off a “significant”
shoulder injury, according to her coach Fernando Possenti. Exactly 5 months and
16 days since her surgery, Somabay will be Cunha’s first competition – pool or
open water – since the latter half of 2022.
If neither Cunha nor van Rouwendaal
touch first after 10,000 meters, expect the likes of Worlds silver medalist
Leonie Beck (GER) or two-time World champ Aurelie Muller (FRA) to challenge for
the win.
Muller has been a factor in the
marathon swimming scene for the better part of 10 years, winning individual
silver in the 5K at the 2011 Worlds at age 21. Now age 32, Muller will be one
of France’s best hopes at a medal at a home Olympics next year if she is to
indeed secure qualification.
Beck on the other hand finished third
at the Marathon World Series stop in Israel as she is a part of a German team
that has emerged as the global force in the sport. Beck however will not be in
the 4x1500m relay where Jeannette Spiwoks and Celine Rieder will race in her
stead. Neither of those women raced for Germany last year in the World
Championships where the team won gold with Wellbrock and Oliver Klemet.
Somabay Also Starts Olympic Fever
The Olympic Games in Paris are still
over a year away, but the qualification period for open water marathon swimming
is looming, with this summer’s World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka serving
as the first automatic qualifier for the Games.
The three medalists for the men’s and
women’s 10km in Japan will automatically secure their places in the race at the
Olympics in France in 2024, while the top 13 swimmers from the February 2024
World Aquatics Championships in Doha will also earn spots in Paris.
With this added pressure to be
prepared for the 10K this July, Olympic fever is starting to make its way
around the world, with the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup
beginning its 2023 tour on Monday in Somabay, Egypt.
Ready Room
The men’s 10K will begin Monday
morning at 9 a.m. local time with the women’s race starting three hours later.
The 4x1500m mixed relay will be held Tuesday at 10 a.m. local time.
Contributing: Torin Koos
Image Source: Gabriel Monnet/World Aquatics
Written by: Andy Ross, World Aquatics
Correspondent
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