French swimmers Oceane Cassignol, Axel Reymond Win at UltraMarathon in North Macedonia
French swimmers Oceane Cassignol and Axel Reymond won the women’s and men’s races, respectively, in the first meet of the FINA UltraMarathon Swim Series on Saturday.
The 25-kilometer course was situated in Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia. Reymond covered the course in five hours, 10 minutes and 31.00 seconds. Cassignol finished in 5:16:39.3.
Reymond won this race in 2019 in North Macedonia in a time roughly 10 minutes slower. Cassignol earned a silver medal in the 10-kilometer Marathon Swim Series stop in Doha, Qatar in March.
France also earned the silver medal in the women’s race, with Caroline Jouisse nearly 30 minutes back. Third was Argentine’s Pilar Geijo. Behind her, only German Samira-Svea Erhart finished the race (in 6:24:45.20). Only seven swimmers, including American Sandra Frimerman-Bergquist, took the start.
Reymond had company the entire race, winning by a solitary second over Italy’s Eduardo Stochino. Third was the home country’s Evgenij Pop Acev, who finished 3.5 seconds back. Marcel Schouten of the Netherlands was with the lead group most of the way, finishing just off the podium and 12 seconds in arrears. Twelve men started the race, with 10 finishing, all within 5 hours and 40 minutes. Sixth was Frenchman Marc-Antoine Olivier, who had won the Doha race in March.
Full results are here. The next installment of the UltraMarathon circuit visits Capri/Napoli, Italy on Sept. 5.