On a day that left her ‘speechless’, Moesha Johnson performed when it mattered the most - touching first in the final women’s event of the 2026 Open Water World Cup season.

The Australian did so in dominant fashion, winning every round bar the first heat, where she touched second behind eventual silver-medal winner Bettina Fabian.

Speaking immediately after the race, Johnson said: “To be honest, I'm quite speechless. I did not expect that today. I feel really, really exhausted and just came in wanting to see what I had left. I couldn't be happier with the season”

The 28-year-old, who was victorious in yesterday’s 10km, has created history this season by winning every individual event of the World Cup stops, plus all the sprint laps too.

Her results in the 10km cemented her as Overall Leader, but she had still set the expectation for herself to win everything possible.

Speaking on her approach to this season - which has been the most successful of her career - she said: “I haven't really changed anything. I've just kept building from season to season, race to race, and I think that's just what's starting to show through.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Johnson’s attention now turns to the Pan Pacific Championships in August.

“For us, we still have a lot of racing and training to go for the rest of the year and for the season. So we've got Pan-Pacs so I'll be looking at that. There's just one 10km there, no knockout, and then some pool racing after that - I’m excited.”
By Moesha Johnson

Double Silver for Fabian

Having battled with Johnson yesterday in the 10km, it was a repeat of the same result today for Fabian, who won her second individual silver of the series.

Fabian was consistent throughout all three rounds, taking the lead from Johnson in the first heat while looking controlled and comfortable at the front of the race.

She followed up that effort by finishing third in the semifinal (1000 metres), before beating Japan’s Kajimoto to the silver-medal touch by 0.8 of a second in the final.

Having spent time out of the water last season due to injury, Fabian said she was ‘extremely happy’ to be leaving Setúbal with two silver medals.

3km World Champion Takes Bronze

Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto has proven herself a threat over this distance, having won gold at the World Championships in Singapore last year.

A strong performance from her throughout the rounds saw her taking the touch just fractionally ahead of Lea Boy (0.1 second) in the final.

Kajimoto now has four World Cup medals within her collection; all from the 3km Knockout Sprint event which was first introduced in 2025.

Having failed to progress to the final in the same event in Golfo Aranci, she said: “Thank you so much. I couldn't go to the final in Golfo Aranci so I’m really happy with bronze.”

Boy of Germany just missed out on the medals in this event to finish fourth, while a very strong performance from Poland’s Klaudia Tarasiewicz saw her taking the fifth spot overall.

That top five result from 22-year-old Tarasiewicz was a big improvement from her 22nd place finish in the 10km at this event; showing continued progression from the youngster who won a silver medal at the World Cup last year.