Brinegar, Ruiz Bravo Win 10k Titles At Open Water Junior Worlds

2018 FINA OPEN WATER JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• September 6th-8th, 2018
• Eliat, Israel
• Meet Site
• Entry Lists
• Live Stream
• Results

American Michael Brinegar and Spaniard Paula Ruiz Bravo picked up victories on day 2 of the 2018 FINA Open Water World Junior Championships in Eliat, topping the field in the men’s and women’s 18-19 10km event.

Brinegar sat near the front of the race the entire way through, but really made his move on the fifth of six laps as he checked in with a two-second advantage over France’s Clement Batte with 1800m remaining. On the final lap the biggest challenge ended up coming from Batte’s countryman Enzo Roldan Munoz, as he erased a five-second deficit to come into the finish neck-and-neck with Brinegar. At the touch it was the American prevailing, clocking a time of 1:49:55.5 to Munoz’s 1:49:55.7.

Russian Kirill Dolgov, who was the race leader early on, held strong toward the end to win bronze in 1:50:00.4, edging out the other American Brennan Gravley (1:50:01.4) and Spain’s Roger Coma Planella (1:50:03.6). Batte ended up losing some ground on the final lap and was 6th (1:50:29.3).

In the women’s race, Ruiz Bravo led the field after all but the third lap, maintaining a slight edge the entire way before solidifying the win by just over two seconds in 1:57:21.9. Peru’s Maria Bramont-Arias won the silver in 1:57:24.2, and Hungarian Reka Rohacs came back from an early deficit to take bronze in 1:57:26.3. Rohacs was as low as 14th after lap two, but steadily moved through to the field to sit sixth with one lap to go and then made her move to grab a medal.

She just got by France’s Lisa Pou (1:57:27.1), while Americans Erica Sullivan (1:57:44.6) and Kensey McMahon (1:57:47.4) were 5th and 6th.

The team relays will finish off the Championships on Saturday. For a recap of day 1, click here.