France’s Sacha Velly won the first two rounds of the first ever 3k knockout sprints on Saturday morning, winning the first 1500m heat, and the second 1000m heat, setting himself up for a chance for the gold medal in the third 500m heat.

But the rest of the field didn’t want to make it easy for the 19-year-old 10K gold medalist from Thursday.

It was expected to be a duel between Velly and Hungary’s Hunor Kovacs-Seres, who set the pace early in the short 500 meter race with Mexico’s Paulo Strehlke Delgado in tow. As the crowd turned for the final straightaway, Japan’s Kaito Tsujimori entered the fray, hitting his line and taking advantage of the rest of the swimmers’ fatigue.

Tsujimori out-sprinted the field, getting the touch at 5:54.10.

“I was tired but I made some contact at the start,” Tsujimori said. “I thought I was the fastest rider so I tried to get behind him, but I didn’t have much energy left when I caught up in the final straight. I kept my cool and got off the course rope after I got in.

“This was my first time competing in the event,” Tsujimori continued. “In the semi-finals, I was able to see the battle and swim in a fairly good position, leaving a reserve in place to prepare for the finals. In the final round, I started the race at the back, and when we entered the final straight, we lined up next to each other and swam as hard as we could when we entered the final course rope.”

Greece’s Vasileios Kakoulakis entered the lead pack late, and slipped his way through to the silver medal at 5:54.50 with Velly winning bronze at 5:54.60.

“It was a very fun race, I would say,” Kakoulakis said. “(It was) interesting also because it’s an open category so there were a lot of fast swimmers. From my side, it was very fun and I liked it very much. My strategy was to be in the top ten every round.

“I was purposely being in last place at the start so I would have a bit more energy to the last meters,” Kakoulakis continued. “It worked out. Every time, I was finishing in eighth or ninth place so I was saving a lot of energy. In the last 500m, I wasn’t sure of my place. I was ninth, I think, at the beginning. I thought, ‘I am in the top ten in the world so I’m good.’ But I had more energy in me so I managed to get to the front.”

Kovacs-Seres finished fourth at 5:54.70 with Strehlke Delgado in fifth at 5:54.80.

In the women’s race, 17-year-old Claire Weinstein of the United States paced the three rounds to her benefit as she swam away from the field over the final 500 meters, touching at 5:50.80, nine seconds ahead of the silver medalist, Brinkleigh Hansen (6:00.00) of the United States.

“I wasn’t really focused on winning the 1500m or 1000m,” Weinstein said. “I was just focused on getting to that 500m because I know that once I got to the 500m I would have enough speed to do very well, and I knew it was the same for Brinkleigh. We both swim the 200m freestyle in the pool so I think this race is perfect for us.

“I can be any advocate to include this race in future competitions because I loved that event. It was really fun, other people enjoyed it too.”

It’s been a huge week for the United States team as the girls won all three individual races this week in Alghero off the coast of the island of Sardinia. Weinstein won the individual 7.5km while Hansen, age 14, won the 5km yesterday.

“I really think there was no strategy for anyone,” Hansen said, who swims for the same club in Saint Petersburg that produced Olympic champion Bobby Finke. “I knew I could last, and I had hard work behind me. Having Claire with me was the extra bit of encouragement to go 1-2 and represent Team USA well.”

The bronze went the way of France’s Clemence Coccordano (6:02.00), who got to the podium after finishing eighth in the individual 10km on Thursday. Coccordano was perhaps Weinstein’s biggest adversary in this race, but could not hold onto the pace the American showed.

Coccordano was able to hold off Japan’s Misa Okuzono (6:03.00) for the bronze as the 18-year-old Japanese was fourth, ahead of Italy’s Mahila Spennato (6:13.80) and Germany’s Hannah Gatjen (6:15.40).

Finishing Shot | Claire and the Chasing Company