When Sharon van Rouwendaal emerged from the final straightaway in the River Seine with the lead, en route to a second Olympic gold medal in the 10km eight years, the superlatives started flying. Was she the greatest of all-time? She certainly thought so. Ana Marcela Cunha had won a lot of medals at the Olympics and the World Championships and the World Cup, but she hadn’t won at the Olympics twice.

“I wanted to do it so I calculated if I had a medal and Ana Marcela didn’t get another gold that it’d be more impressive to have three medals,” van Rouwendaal said in her press conference. “And I thought, ‘if I reclaim it, then I have three medals in a row, and then these girls have to do it in eight years to beat me.’ That takes a lot of dedication and pain.”

Van Rouwendaal won the two hour race that required an immense amount of planning. With a current going in one direction, van Rouwendaal darted to the lead early, creating separation from the pack as she didn’t allow for any give on the back half of the race.

On the final lap, she found a small pocket of the water under the bridge where there was no current and it helped her win the Olympic gold medal.

“There was a risk. I did it on the first lap and on the second lap,” van Rouwendall said. “I trained it yesterday. At some point, you can be 20 meters behind the pillar and I tried it, and there was no current. You have to do it at the right time and go to the right at the right time. You get the current when you jump over for two meters. When you go, you have to go and there’s no going back.”

In the men’s race, Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky celebrated the gold medal alongside teammate David Betlehem with the bronze medal.

Rasovszky, age 27, won his first Olympic gold medal in the men’s 10K. After World titles in 2019 and 2024, as well as Olympic silver at Tokyo 2020, Rasovszky took the last step in achieving greatness - an Olympic gold medal.

“I was prepared for this. Yesterday when I saw Sharon winning, I thought this was a sign because she was second in Tokyo, the same as me, so I thought it was a sign for me,” Rasovszky said.

World Cup - Cunha stays on top for possibly the last time

After a disappointing fourth place finish in Paris, Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha rebounded to win the 2024 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup title, scoring the most points across the five stops - in the waters of Egypt, Italy, Portugal, Hong Kong, China, and Saudi Arabia.

With a single win in Italy back in May, Cunha was able to collect enough points to win off of racing in all five stops, something only a few did.

“It’s been a really hard year because we swim the Olympic Games and I finished fourth which is not the best result, as you’re one step from the podium and at the last Olympic Games I’m the champion,” Cunha told World Aquatics. “Of course, it happened and then for the World Cup is like when you ‘turn the key’ because I continued to swim this year and I’m really happy with this amazing overall ranking.

“I think maybe this World Cup is the last time when I do all of the race and maybe in six-seven months I stop swimming.”

If this is the end for Cunha, what a ride it has been - one Olympic gold medal, seven World titles, and numerous World Cup wins. Cunha is one of the greatest to ever do it, and has left a lasting legacy on the sport. When there was a race, she was near the top of the pack, and when there was a podium, she was likely on it.

France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier was the men’s champion of the World Cup this year, after a disappointing showing at a home Olympics in which he finished seventh.

“I’m very happy to win the overall champion in general and in sprint,” Olivier told World Aquatics after claiming the first overall World Cup title of his career.

“For me it’s very important, as I didn’t swim very good at the Olympic Games in my country, so this is like my second chance to win a very important competition.”

Faces to watch

The World Aquatics Open Water Swimming Junior World Championships concluded a busy summer for the sport, as many of the future champions of tomorrow came to the waters of Alghero, Italy to fight for medals. As the attention shifts to the next two World Championships in Singapore 2025 and Budapest 2027, and eventually the Olympics in Los Angeles 2028, here are some of the potential future stars in open water swimming moving forward.

Claire Weinstein

The Sandpipers of Nevada product won the 7.5km junior World title as well as the 3k knockout sprints - three rounds of descending swims equalling 3,000 meters. Weinstein, who has range from the 200m freestyle up to the 10km, has already made her mark on the world stage, winning World short course bronze in the 200m freestyle as well as swimming the fastest 200m freestyle on a relay in history.

At age 17, she already has a trip to the Olympics and two trips to the World Championships on her resume, with many more to come in any event she chooses.

Emir Albayrak

Türkiye has built up a strong core group of distance freestylers, led by the first ever Turkish Olympic finalist in Kuzey Tuncelli and World junior champion Merve Tuncel. 17-year-old Emir Albayrak is the next in line by virtue of his World junior title in the 7.5km this year. Additionally, he finished 23rd in the 1500m freestyle in Paris and was the European junior champion in the 7.5km. As he transitions to the senior ranks, he already has a lot of experience under his belt and he is one to watch moving forward.

Sacha Velly

The 10km Junior World champion from this year looks to be the next great French star, following in the likes of the aforementioned Olivier and World champion Logan Fontaine. Velly, who was second at the Open Water Swimming World Cup stop in Saudi Arabia in November, is gathering momentum towards a potential big showing in 2025.

France has a history of solid distance swimmers, including Olympic silver medalist Anastasiia Kirpichnikova and Olympic finalist David Aubry. With the recent excitement over a home Olympics, perhaps swimming is becoming bigger than ever in France, and Velly could be one of those to ride that wave to future success.

Claire Stuhlmacher

The American won gold in the 10km at World Juniors this year in a photo finish over Italian Chiara Sanzullo, who comes from an open water swimming family. With the next Olympics in Los Angeles, expect the depth of American distance swimming to increase, and whoever gets those two spots to represent the Stars and Stripes in California in four years will be eager to reach the podium.

Stuhlmacher is currently training at Indiana University, alongside Olympians Mariah Denigan and Zalan Sarkany, and she is one of the future stars to watch in the United States.