The youngest athletes of the 2024 World Aquatics Open Water Junior World Championships got started Friday morning with the 5km race.
Germany’s Jonas Lieschke, age 15, stayed with the lead pack for the majority of the three-lap race, but turned on the jets and ran away from the field on the last lap, winning by a 13 second margin over silver medalist Balint Kreisz of Hungary.
Lieschke touched at 59:42.10 as a budding open water star after he was fifth at European Juniors earlier this year in the 5km. Lieschke made his move at around 4000 meters and never looked back. Germany is one of the powers in open water swimming, with three of the six medalists from last month’s Olympics having trained in Magdeburg. Lieschke swims out of Hamburg and could have a big future in the sport based on his results today.
“It was a difficult race,” Lieschke said. “The conditions were good and I am very proud of this.”
Kreisz could be following in the footsteps of the Hungarians Kristof Rasovszky and David Betlehem, who went gold and bronze in the 10K at the Games in Paris as Kreisz, age 15, took silver in a tight finish over Greece’s Konstantinos Chourdakis (59:57.80) and Switzerland’s Gerardo Tirri (59:58.90).
Chinese Taipei’s Su Bo Ling (1:00:05.70), one of the youngest in the field at age 13, finished fifth overall after he factored into the lead on lap two.
In the women’s race, American Brinkleigh Hansen pulled away to win gold at 1:03:05.30 ahead of Hungary’s Anna Bartalos (1:03:09.50) and Italy’s Mahila Spennato (1:03:14.80). Those three set the pace early and the rest of the field could not hang on, separating from the pack and never looking back.
Hansen pulled away to win by four seconds, as the 14-year-old out of Saint Petersburg Aquatics, the same club that produced world record holder and Olympic champion Bobby Finke, won gold in her international debut.
“I didn’t really have a strategy,” Hansen said. “I just really wanted to race and represent the U.S. well and have a good experience with these girls which I most definitely did. They pushed me to be the best version of myself.
“Being new to open water, this is a great experience and I love the open water community,” Hansen said.
“I didn’t really have a strategy. I just really wanted to race and represent the U.S. well and have a good experience with these girls which I most definitely did. They pushed me to be the best version of myself."
Bartalos won Hungary’s second medal of the day at age 14, while Spennato won another medal for her home nation at age 15.
Turkey’s Su Inal (1:04:31.20) finished fourth over a minute back from the lead pack in a crowded chase group with Poland’s Iga Polak (1:04:32.80) and Japan’s Saya Mizutani (1:04:32.90) finishing fifth and sixth.
Parting Shot