After sticking with the pack for the first five of six laps, Velly made a huge push on the last lap to swim away from the rest of the field to win the gold medal by nearly thirty seconds, hitting the Omega touchpad at 1:59:44.20.

Velly, the leader of the junior ranks at last year’s Open Water Swimming World Cup, won in his last year eligible for junior competitions as he will turn 20 in February 2025.

“It’s my last junior 10km and I am the best - I am World champion and that’s good,” Velly said after the race. “It was a good race. It’s a beautiful place, a beautiful city and a beautiful country.

"I am a junior world champion, and that is all we need to remember for the future and 2028."

The silver went the way of Poland’s Piotr Wozniak, who came off the pace to grab the silver medal at 2:00:13.60. Wozniak was one of a few juniors to compete in this event at the Olympics in Paris last month as he came from fifth with one lap to go to grab silver. Wozniak was over 20 seconds back from the lead pack heading into the final lap and paced his race to perfection to run down the likes of Italy’s Vincenzo Caso (2:00:15.80), who won bronze.

"It was a very tough race, great rhythm from the start," Caso said after the race. "It was nice to win a medal here in Italy. Thank you to everyone for supporting me today."

Caso was at the front of the pack with Velly for the majority of the race as he swam well in his home waters, setting the pace early and hanging on for a medal.

One of the pre-race favorites, Mexico’s Paulo Strehlke Delgado, finished fourth after falling off the lead pack on the back half, touching at 2:00:43.70. Strehlke Delgado, age 18, finished 12th in Paris last month in this event and looked to be on his way to winning the junior title, sitting in the front pack for the first five laps. He lost contact with the leaders on the last lap and came up short off the podium as he couldn’t follow up his 7.5km junior title from 2022.

Poland’s Bartosz Kapala (2:01:17.10) and Portugal’s Ricardo Santos (2:01:21.20) finished fifth and sixth, ahead of another one of the pre-race favorites in Hungary’s Hunor Kovacs-Seres (2:01:52.20), who was also leading the race in the first half but couldn’t hold the pace on lap five.

Brazil’s Matheus Melecchi (2:01:58.60) finished eighth ahead of Estonia’s Jaan Pasko (2:01:58.80) and Hungary’s Daniel Poteczin (2:02:39.30) to round out the top ten.

Parting Shot