Open water swimming will be the first medal event at the World Aquatics Championships - Fukuoka 2023 with the all-important 10km up first for the women on Friday morning at Momochi Seaside Park.
The top three finishers in the men’s and women’s 10K races at this year’s World Championships in Japan will secure their spots in the 2024 Olympic Games, making Friday and Saturday’s 10K races all the more important. In previous years, the top ten from the World Championships the year before the Olympics automatically qualify for the Games, but that number has shrunk, with the second bit of qualification to occur at next year’s Worlds in Doha in February.
The 10K holds a lot of weight to it. The two hour race has no preliminary round, nor a world record because every course is different, and is the only open water distance at the Olympics. No lane lines separate the athletes, and literally the only thing that matters is getting to the finish line ahead of the next person. With Olympic qualification up for grabs, this 10K will be intense, and the athletes will want to secure their spots for Paris to have a full year of preparation for the big dance. This is essentially Olympic Trials for those participating, and they know everyone will bring their A-game.
There is a lot at stake in this 10K, and it will kick off the open water schedule at this year’s Worlds, with the 5K on Tuesday and the 6K team relay on Thursday.
Leonie Beck looking to end the van Rouwendaal, Cunha reign of dominance
The women’s 10K will be first up on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. local time with the last two Olympic champions - Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) and Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) as the two favorites. These two have gone back and forth the last few years in this sport, seemingly always coming down to the final straightaway and the final stroke.
Van Rouwendaal and Cunha have dominated the open water landscape, winning the last two Olympic gold medals in 2016 and 2021. They have shared the podium four times in World Championship races, including twice last year. Cunha is also the most decorated open water swimmer at the World Championships, winning seven gold and 14 overall medals across her career that debuted at the Worlds in 2011. Cunha, now age 31, has shown no signs of slowing down. Although she is the most decorated open water swimmer in history and perhaps the greatest to ever do it, she still has never won the 10K at the World Championships.
Although Cunha has the greatest accolade of them all - an Olympic gold medal, a 10km World title would complete her full collection of medals, and would certainly add to her legacy as perhaps the best marathon swimmer of all-time.
Van Rouwendaal’s first World title came last year in the 10K in Budapest, with Cunha winning the bronze. Germany’s Leonie Beck split the pair with the silver medal.
Beck has been having a good year on the Open Water Swimming World Cup circuit, winning two of the three races earlier this spring as the 26-year-old is having the best year of her career. Germany has become one of the powers in open water swimming, winning last year’s team relay in Budapest and Beck has been a strong player in that. If anybody could take down van Rouwendaal and Cunha, it could be Beck, who has been known to sit well back of the pack on the front half of the race before running them all down in the second half.
The 10K is all about managing your energy. In a two-hour race, it is important to know when to push and when to hold back. Oftentimes, the swimmer that is leading at 5 kilometres is not the one leading at 10, and knowing which pace to hold is ever so important in that race. Beck has mastered that race plan this World Cup season, and she has left enough in the tank to take down those superstars twice.
Of course, the Worlds is a different beast, but Beck has been here before and has proven to herself that she has the endurance and speed to match everybody else.
Another spoiler could be USA’s Katie Grimes.
Grimes, just 17-years-old, is a rising star in the open water ranks, finishing fifth at last year’s World Championships in the 10K. Grimes has made her name known in pool swimming, where she will tackle the 1500m freestyle and 400m IM next week at Marine Messe as she won silver in both those events last year at the World Championships.
Grimes has steadily risen up the ranks in distance swimming, having also made the 2021 Olympic final in the 800m freestyle at age 15. Last year, she was up with the leaders in the 10K for the majority of the race before falling from the lead pack. Now she has more experience and will be a bit more fresh this year than last and could play spoiler to the two titans if she can manage her endurance better. Grimes has the speed from her pool swimming, and has plenty of endurance, it is just a matter of putting it together on race day.
If Grimes is to win a medal, it would usher in a new era of open water swimming for the United States after the likes of Haley Anderson and Ashley Twichell dominated for so long and represented the nation at the 2021 Olympics. Grimes appears to be the next star, and a successful showing at the 2023 Worlds would be the logical next step in achieving that status.
Florian Wellbrock, Gregorio Paltrinieri take on open water + pool challenge
The men’s 10K will dive in Sunday morning at 8 a.m. local time with defending champion Gregorio Paltrinieri (ITA) going up against reigning Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock (GER).
Much like the aforementioned Grimes, both Paltrinieri and Wellbrock will take on full lineups in the pool next week along with their respective open water races, leaving this as a very busy two weeks for them. They both did the double last year, winning gold and bronze in the pool 1500m freestyle before making the short turnaround to the open water schedule where Paltrinieri again won the 10K with Wellbrock winning the bronze.
“I really like the challenge to make the step from open water to the pool and to compete in both,” Wellbrock said at the opening press conference in Fukuoka. “I think it’s a good challenge for your mind and for your body to compete in both.”
This year however the schedule is flipped, with the 10K being the very first race on the program and the 1500m the very last day. Four years ago in 2019, Wellbrock and Paltrinieri did the open water-pool double as the German won the 10K on the first day and the 1500m on the last. It wasn’t easy, however, as Wellbrock missed the final in the 800m after racing a full lineup the week prior.
The point being, it is very difficult to sustain that speed and endurance across the two weeks of racing and come out on top, but both of them have the longevity in this sport, and have the background to be able to be great in both pool and open water swimming and one should expect that this week in Fukuoka.
Wellbrock and Paltrinieri have fairly similar race strategies, as they both like to press the pace early on. Wellbrock however is able to finish a little stronger, but Paltrinieri just has more endurance. The key to beating the Italian is to press the pace hard on the front half to either try to try to win the battle of attrition or to get ahead of him on the last lap with a strong finishing kick.
If anyone could take down Wellbrock and Paltrinieri, expect the challenge to come from Italy’s Domenico Acerenza and Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky.
Last year in Budapest, Acerenza split Paltrinieri and Wellbrock with the silver in the 10K, and he won the European title without Paltrinieri or Wellbrock in the field. Acerenza comes from the same training pool as Paltrinieri so he knows how he races, and knows the tactics to take him down - he just has not done it yet in a major race.
The Italians are another strong nation in open water swimming, having a rich history in pool distance swimming that began with the likes of Novella Calligaris winning three medals across the 400m, 800m freestyle, and 400m IM at the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Acerenza was a mildly successful pool swimmer, winning bronze in the 1500m freestyle at the 2021 European Championships, and won his first individual Worlds medal in the 10K last year.
Rasovszky is of certain intrigue this year due to his success on the Open Water Swimming World Cup circuit this year. Rasovszky was last year’s co-champion with Paltrinieri and is currently leading the overall standings for 2023 after one win across the three races already. Rasovszky was the silver medalist at the Olympics alongside Wellbrock and Paltrinieri on the podium as the 26-year-old Hungarian has proven to get it done when it counts.
Rasovszky has a lot of racing experience, taking advantage of every opportunity given, and will certainly be able to deliver each time. The 2019 World Champion in the 5K, Rasovszky is another that has the perfect mix of speed and endurance to match up with Wellbrock and Paltrinieri. Even though the race is not in his home nation like last year, Rasovszky is one of the strongest open water swimmers in the entire field, and could certainly play the spoiler role come Sunday.
The women’s 10K will begin Saturday at 8 a.m. local time with the men’s race occurring at the same time on Sunday.