American-Record Holder Zane Grothe finished as the top American competitor in the 5K race at USA’s 2019 Open Water National Championships. He placed fourth overall in the race behind Italians Gregorio Paltrinieri, Domenico Acerenza and Mario Sanzullo.
His efforts still qualified him for the 2019 World Championships in this event, even though he has already made the team in the 400, 800 and 1500-meter freestyles. Brennan Gravley became the second 5K qualifier after placing fifth. But with a busy scheduled slated for pool competition, Grothe decided to defer his World Championships spot to teammate and sixth-place finisher Michael Brinegar.
“That would give me four races at World Championships. And I think that three in the pool – prelims and finals of the 400, 800 and 1500 will probably be plenty. I always thought that at some point we [Grothe and Brinegar] could be working together out here. We were probably never close but to be able to see a spot go to my teammate feels pretty good.”
Grothe also discussed his thought process headed into the long weekend despite not planning on committing to open water in the near future. While his focus is in the pool, he was able to practice recovery and strategy by racing both the 10K and 5K at these Championships.
The full USA Swimming World Championships pool roster is available here. This will be Zane Grothe’s second World Championships after medaling in the 800 Freestyle Relay in 2017.
Congrats to your brother, Natalie!
Jennifer Hooker Brinegar