Katie Grimes Wins Third Straight 10K to Start U.S. Open Water Nationals
Olympian Katie Grimes won her third straight title in the women’s 10-kilometer swim on Friday to begin U.S. Open Water Nationals.
France’s Axel Reymond won the men’s event in a photo finish with American Paris Olympic qualifier Ivan Puskovitch.
Grimes lead after four of the five laps of the course in Sarasota, Florida. Her Sandpipers of Nevada teammate Claire Weinstein briefly went to the front mid-race.
Grimes got her hand across the line first in one hour, 58 minutes, 18 seconds, four seconds ahead of Weinstein.
“It was definitely fun. I felt like Claire and I had really good teamwork in the first half,” Grimes told USA Swimming. “That was kind of the plan – to just stick together the first half and then do our own thing in the second half. I felt like we did a really good job. I hope we both walked away from that race with lessons learned – I know I did. I’m really excited about that race and just knowing that I can still be strong at the end.”
Grimes, who swam in the pool at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, did the 10K/5K double in 2023. She won the 10K along with the junior 7.5K in 2022. Grimes was fourth in the 5K and 15th in the 10K at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships after earning bronze in the 2023 event in Fukuoka.
Mariah Denigan, who qualified for the second American spot at this summer’s Olympics, finished third in 1:58.38. She had been sixth at Worlds in Doha in the 10K this year.
The top three were the only ones to break two hours. Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto was fourth in 2:00.34. Collegians Brooke Travis (NC State) and Anna Auld (Florida) were sixth and seventh, behind Ashley Wall of TAC Titans.
Reymond, who fell shy of qualifying for a home Olympics his summer, won the men’s race in 1:53.20. A photo finish was required to sort out the top three. Second by a fraction was Puskovitch, the American qualifier for the Paris Games. He and Dylan Gravely finished on the same time, at 1:53.21.
“That was my highest finish at Nationals, so that’s boding pretty well for the future,” Puskovitch said. “I wanted to try a few new things in that race with Paris coming up, because that’s going to be a really fast and really competitive event. And fortunately, with my spot booked, I could afford to experiment a little bit in this race. I’m happy with the way it turned out. There have been a lot of hiccups and life interruptions as of late, so coming into this event and performing the way that I did today bodes really well for Paris.”
Texas A&M’s Tre Dickey finished third in 1:53.29, ahead of Taishin Minamide of Japan. The top nine swimmers were within 16 seconds, three of them Sandpipers of Nevada, led by Luke Ellis in sixth.
The meet continues Saturday with the junior 5Ks for boys and girls. Sunday brings the men’s and women’s 5K and the junior boys and girls 7.5K.