LAUSANNE, Switzerland, February 1. ON January 31, 2010, open water swimmers gathered for the first leg of the FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup in Santos, Brazil.
As in 2009, Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) seized gold in the circuit's inaugural race, timing 2h16m48s. Martina Grimaldi (ITA) won silver in 2h16m50s and was closely followed by her compatriot Alice Franco, timing 2h16min51s. The fourth and fifth places were granted to Larisa Ilchenko (RUS, eighth of the World Cup in 2009) and Angela Maurer (GER, second in last year overall ranking) respectively.
In the men's field, the race was even more exciting, with Evgeny Drattsev (RUS) touching first in 2h14m12s03 and Chad Ho (RSA, one of the revelations at the 2009 FINA World Championships, where he got the bronze in the 5km) finishing second in 2h14min12s44 (a 0.41s difference after 10km and more than two hours in the water!). The bronze medal was awarded to Allan do Carmo (BRA), who timed 2h14m13s. The Brazilian was silver medallist in the overall ranking of the 2009 series.
Full FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup 2010 calendar:
Race 1: January 31, 2010 in Santos (BRA)
NEXT RACE: February 6, 2010 in Viedma (ARG)
Race 3: June 26, 2010 in Setubal (POR)
Race 4: July 25, 2010 in Lac St-Jean (CAN)
Race 5: September 25, 2010 in Shantou (CHN)
Race 6: October 3, 2010 in Hong Kong (HKG)
Race 7: October 9, 2010 in Cancun (MEX)
Race 8: October 23, 2010 in Sharjah (UAE)
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