BUDAPEST, Hungary — After swimming for almost two hours in open water, Olympic champion Ferry Weertman edged defending champion Jordan Wilimovsky by one tenth of a second for the 10-kilometre title at the world championships on Tuesday.
Weertman earned the Netherlands’ first medal of the championships, on Lake Balaton, about 130 kilometres (80 miles) southwest of Budapest.
“I just love swimming … I haven’t stopped for a moment, and this hard work paid off,” said the 25-year-old Weertman, who began swimming at age 6 because his brother made it look like fun.
Wilimovsky had no regrets, despite the closest of finishes.
“I cannot complain about my swim. I tried everything I could. There are plenty of very good swimmers in the 10k, so the silver medal is all right,” the American said.
Marc-Antoine Olivier of France, who won the 5K on Saturday, was 0.70 seconds behind for bronze. He became the first Frenchman to win more than one medal in open water swimming at the worlds.
Neither Weertman nor Wilimovsky raced the 5K.
Olympic bronze medallist Richard Weinberger of Surrey, B.C., was 23rd while Montreal’s Philippe Guertin was 28th.
Canadian coach Mark Perry said both swimmers had set themselves up well in the first three-quarters of the race.
“I think both boys executed the first three laps well,” he said. “Richard was in a perfect position halfway around the fourth lap, but just didn’t have any speed at the end of the race.”
The lack of closing speed as something to improve moving forward, he said.
“Something we can go back and work on is to find out where we give our open water swimmers the speed they need to compete in this modern world of open water swimming, where people are able to swim fast in the pool and transfer it to the open water.”
Meantime, Russia won its sixth straight women’s team technical synchronized swimming title for its fourth gold medal of the championships.
The team of Maria Shurochkina, Vlada Chigireva, Veronika Kalinina, Daria Bayandina, Anastasia Bayandina, Maryna Goliadkina, Darina Valitova, and Polina Komar performed last and maintained the team’s unbeaten record in the event with 96.0109 points.
“There is no limit to perfection,” said Chigireva, one of only two swimmers alongside Shurochkina left from the team that won Olympic gold in 2016.
Shurochkina said the new members “took the challenge and they really mingled with us, they are now part of the team.”
Chinese swimmers Wang Qianyi, Wang Liuyi, Guo Li, Xiao Yanning, Tang Mengni, Feng Yu, Liang Xinping and Yin Chengxin claimed silver with 94.2165, followed by Japan on 93.1690 for its first medal of the championships.
Canada was seventh.
Chigireva and Shurochkina equalled Daria Korobova’s three gold medals in this event. Only Russian compatriots Aleksandra Patskevich, Alla Shishkina and Angelika Timanina have more with four.
