For Johnson, her dominant success rounded off a stunning season which included marathon swimming silver at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and World Championship gold as part of Australia’s 4x1500m mixed relay team.

She finished the race in the Red Sea, which formed part of the NEOM Beach Games, in one hour 58 minutes and 52.2 seconds, which was 31.3 secs ahead of Leah Boy (GER).

Ginevra Taddeucci (ITA) completed the podium places after a tight finish for the minor medals, with Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA) seventh, a result which ensured she collected enough points to claim the women’s overall World Cup title for the 2024 season.

In contrast to Johnson’s year Wellbrock has endured a series of results which by his standards fell short of his expectations, having missed out on individual open water medals at both the Doha 2024 Worlds and Olympic Games.

The 27-year-old showed a return to more traditional form in NEOM though, leading from the first lap and ultimately finishing the 10km event in one hour, 50 minutes and 17.70 ses.

A strong finish saw World Junior Open Water champion Sacha Velly (ITA) claim silver, four seconds behind Wellbrock, with Marc-Antoine Olivier (FRA) claiming third.

By finishing ahead of Italian trio Marcello Guidi, Dario Verani and Andrea Filadelli, who were fourth, fifth and eighth respective, the Frenchman ensured he would take home the men’s overall World Cup crown for 2024.

Women’s 10km Event In Review

Jeannette Spiwoks (GER) made a strong start, going out hard in the opening leg flanked by her team-mate Leah Boy (GER), but it was Lia Pou (MON) who grabbed the first lap ‘win’ ahead of sprint title rival Ginevra Taddeucci (ITA).

Interesting, perhaps due to the high levels of salt in the Red Sea, the entire field stopped to ‘feed’ at the end of the opening lap and that theme would be continued throughout the race.

Boy entered the race trailing overall leader Cunha 402 points in the overall World Cup standings, meaning her only chance to claim the seasonal crown would be to win the race and hope the Brazilian did not finish any higher than eighth.

Cunha was in 19^th after the opening lap, but the 32-year-old is a master of this sport and few watching expected her to remain at that back end of the field.

Tadeucci and Pou exchanged the lead position throughout the opening 5km, but significant changes began to emerge in the fourth lap when the field split into three groups.

Olympic silver medallists Johnson slipped from third at the halfway stage to 22^nd at the end of the fourth, but the pack was so congested that she was only just over 10 seconds off the temporary leader Ichika Kajimoto (JPN).

Perhaps fuelled by frustration, Johnson was soon kicking her way to the front of the field and took a 17.8 sec lead into the final lap from Taddeucci, with Cunha up to third.

While an advantage of that level is a huge positive heading into the closing stages some questioned whether she had burned too much energy for the last lap, but that proved not to be the case.

Johnson powered clear of her rivals to take a clear victory by 31.3 secs. 

In a sprint finish for the other podium positions it was Boy (GER) who touched ahead of Taddeucci (ITA).

Spiwoks took fourth, with Bettina Fabian fifth, sixth and Cunha finishing seventh, ensuring she would become the World Cup overall champion for 2024.

Words From The Winner – Moesha Johnson (AUS)

“I’m happy that the (open water) year is done with quite a success,” Johnson told World Aquatics. 

“Lap four was not fun, I came through probably last. On the backstraight I picked a straight line and all of a sudden, the pack was gone and I was like, ‘ah well, here we go!’

“The course looks quite smooth, but there are waves and a bit of a swell which knocked us about a little bit in that last straight when I was on my own and I was struggling to get my arms over, but I was happy with the outcome, obviously.”

Men’s 10km Event In Review

Olivier (FRA) potentially had the greatest pressure on his shoulder ahead of the race given he held the lead in the overall standings, but the Frenchman looked relaxed in the moments before the 35-strong field took to the waters of the Red Sea.

He was soon well-placed towards the front of the field, who were led out by Wellbrock.

The German has proven prowess in both disciplines of the sport and typically favours calmer conditions which are closer to those seen in the pool, which meant it was no surprise that he led the pack from the opening stages.

Behind him Olympic champion Kristof Rasovszky (HUN), 2024 breakthrough swimmer Andrea Filadelli (ITA) and several of his team-mates regularly exchanged positions.

Dario Verani (ITA) was the swimmer closest to Olivier, in terms of points haul, heading into the final race of the World Cup season, but he took a different tactic to the Frenchman as well as fellow overall title rival Marcello Guidi (ITA).

He was regularly outside of the top-ten before picking up the pace in the closing stages. 

The Italian’s speed was impressive, but nothing on that shown by World junior champion Sacha Velly (FRA) who surged into second.

Olivier looked to be tiring, but crucially was able to hold off the advances by Verani and Guidi, meaning the overall title would head to the Frenchman.

With Wellbrock competing for the first time since finishing eighth at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games it would be fair to suggest he may have struggled to maintain the high pace in the closing stages, but that proved not to be the case.

The German held off the challenge posed by the advancing Velly to secure an impressive victory and his first World Cup win since May 2023.

Words From The Winner – Florian Wellbrock (GER)

“I love to compete at the front of the pack and use my speed from the pool and with the flat water, although it was a bit choppy at the end, it worked so good and I think it’s the perfect tactic for today,” Wellbrock told World Aquatics.

“It’s my first time here in NEOM in Saudi Arabia, I think we have so good conditions here today, beautiful venue and the race was painful but fun.

Wellbrock will return to the pool programme next month for the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in Budapest, Hungary.

“It was my first competition of the season,” continued Wellbrock. “It was so important to race here especially after my disappointing Olympics and for sure I’m really excited to race in short course in December.”

What Is Next For The Open Water Swimmers?

The major of the world’s leading open water swimmers will return for the final World Cup race of the season, on Saturday, as they join team-mates in the 4x1500m mixed relay event.