The
second stop of the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup 2024 tour got
underway Saturday morning in the waters of Golfo Aranci on the island of
Sardinia west of the Italian mainland.
France’s
Marc-Antoine Olivier and Logan Fontaine claimed the 1-2 finish in the men’s
10km, a sign of good things to come for them in a home Olympics in 11 weeks
time. The French duo, who also went 1-2 in the 5km earlier this year at the
World Aquatics Championships in Doha, will be the French representatives in
this event at the Paris Olympics this summer.
Hungary’s
David Betlehem set the pace early to lead through the first of six laps on the
course, trying to break any of the pretenders early as he took the first 1666
meters in 17:33. Betlehem was joined on lap two by teammate Kristof Rasovszky,
the World Champion from earlier this year, along with the Australian duo of
Thomas Raymond and Nicholas Sloman.
As the
race stretched out, the Hungarians stayed within a touch of the leaders as the
Australians took over on lap two, while Italy’s Marcello Guidi tried to lead
the charge on lap three before he was taken over by Betlehem again, who was
going for the available sprint points.
Betlehem
took advantage of his lead at the halfway point and seemingly tried to break
the pack on lap four, holding a lead of about two meters through the end of lap
five.
Lingering
in the shadows on lap five was the French duo of Logan Fontaine and
Marc-Antoine Olivier. After scoring a 1-2 finish at the World Championships
this year in February in the 5km, the two Frenchman seem to be peaking at the
right time 11 weeks out from a home Olympics in the Seine River in Paris.
Fontaine, age 25, stayed on Betlehem’s feet for the entirety of lap five with
Olivier in tow in a fight with Rasovszky for the third spot.
By the
start of lap six, Fontaine drew even with Betlehem and Olivier stayed on the
Hungarian’s feet. As the finish line neared, Betlehem held his own as he fended
off challenges thrown from the likes of Sloman and Great Britain’s Hector
Pardoe. At around the 9km mark, Rasovszky took over the lead, creating his own
line. After trading the lead back and forth with Olivier and Fontaine, Olivier
took the lead for good with about 300 meters to go.
As the
lead pack entered the finish chute, Olivier had it all wrapped up, reaching the
pad at 1:50:03.00, with Fontaine completing the 1-2 finish with silver at
1:50:04.40, out-touching Rasovszky (1:50:04.50). Betlehem finished just off the
medals in fourth at 1:50:04.80.
Italy’s
Andrea Filadelli (1:50:08.40), the home nation’s highest finisher, was fifth,
ahead of Israel’s Matan Roditi (1:50:08.70) and Great Britain’s Pardoe
(1:50:09.90).
Image
Source: Andrea Masini/Deep Blue Media/World Aquatics
No comments:
Post a Comment