MELBOURNE, Australia, March 24. RUSSIA's Yury Kudinov won the men's 25K gold medal at the FINA World Championships held in Melbourne, Australia with a time of 5:16:45.55. That effort handed Russia the team title in the open-water events with eight medals – four gold, two silver and two bronze.
Italy's Marco Formentini wound up with silver in 5:18:36.80, while Egypt's Mohamed Zanaty took home bronze in 5:19:23.23. Mark Warkentin provided the U.S. with its top effort by way of a fourth-place effort of 5:20:42.01.
Warkentin, though he just missed out on a medal, is one of the feel-good stories on the U.S. men's squad. Aware that he was not going to break through on the international scene as a pool swimmer, Warkentin looked for another avenue. Open-water action has been the perfect fit. He was followed in fifth by Aussie Josh Santacaterina.
Germany took second in the team competition with three medals (two gold and one silver).
Click Here to view event results PDF file.
