Singapore Open Water Preview: Weinstein Out Of Women’s 10K Race; Men’s Field Stacked

While most are anticipating the start of pool swimming at the Singapore World Championships on July 26, open water swimming kicks off on Tuesday, July 15 at Sentosa Island and runs through Sunday, July 20, with the 10k events up first in the schedule.

The women’s 10k features, potentially, the most wide-open field in over a decade. The reigning Olympic champion and Doha 2024 world champion Sharon van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands is opting not to compete, and neither is the 2023 world champion Leonie Beck of Germany.

In their absence, the Australians on paper are looking particularly dangerous. Moesha Johnson, who collected silver in Paris last year and also trains with van Rouwendaal for several months out of the year, may be considered the favorite.

Johnson has already shown impressive form this season, winning two individual World Cup races and going under 16:00 in the 1500 freestyle, showing both endurance and speed. That mix could be crucial in Singapore, where she’ll look to improve on last year’s performance after fading late and being overtaken by van Rouwendaal in the Paris final.

Johnson has already shown impressive form this season, winning two individual World Cup races and going under 16:00 in the 1500 freestyle, showing both endurance and speed. That mix could be crucial in Singapore, where she’ll look to improve on past performances — including last year’s Paris final, where she was overtaken by van Rouwendaal late, and the 2024 Worlds final, where she was with the lead pack until the last 100 meters but couldn’t keep pace at the end, finishing four seconds behind van Rouwendaal and two seconds off the podium.

Johnson’s teammate Chelsea Gubecka, who won silver in this event at the 2023 Worlds, could also be a factor, but she hasn’t quite been able to replicate the form she showed in Fukuoka over the past two years. While she was able to muster up a strong kick at the end of the 2024 Doha race to grab 5k silver, which she raced in place of the 10k, she was way off the pace in the Paris Olympic final, checking in at 14th, almost three minutes away from the podium placements. If she can rebound and show some of the Fukuoka magic she had a few years back, she’ll be a contender.

American Claire Weinstein was expected to be a contender in this race, especially since she has previously won a World Cup event and possesses dangerous finishing speed. However, she has withdrawn and was replaced by Mariah Denigan, who was already on the team for the 5K. Denigan placed 8th at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, 6th in Doha, and 16th at the Paris Olympics. She was 15th in the 10k at the 2022 Budapest Worlds.

While it’s unclear at this time why Weinstein pulled out, she did have an exceptional meet at the U.S. World Trials, qualifying to swim four individual events. These were the 200, 400, 800, and 1500 free events in the pool, the latter of which she also scratched. Given her impressive meet and high workload in the pool, that’s probably a likely reason, especially since the open water is occurring prior to the pool action commencing.

While on the topic of Americans, 15-year-old Brinkleigh Hansen can’t be overlooked either. She swam a very tactical race en route to winning the U.S. National title over Weinstein in April, and actually closed faster and pulled away from her over the final 200 meters of that swim. You can never count out a fast-rising 15-year-old from pulling off a great swim and grabbing some hardware, but at the same time, experience definitely matters in these open water races.

One of the top candidates to top the podium this week has to be Ginevra Taddeucci. The 28-year-old has been consistently performing near the top of the pack. Last year she earned silver in the European Championship 5k and bronze in the 10k at the Olympics. She added several top-three finishes to her resume throughout the World Cup series this season.

33-year-old Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil, the 2021 Tokyo Olympic champion in the 10k, who is widely considered the greatest open water swimmer of all time, can never be counted out. She’s won 16 World Championships medals in her career, all of which have come in open water events. She’s also the somewhat rare open water swimmer who is just as good in the “short” race, the 5k, as she is in the longest race, the 25k. Cunha has won World Championships gold in the 25k 5 times in her career, while she’s won 5k gold twice, and bronze 4 times. In total, she’s won 7 World Championships golds in her career. The 10k gold medal at the World Championships is the one thing eluding her collection. She’s featured on the 10k podium many times though, winning silver in Barcelona 2013 and three bronze medals in Kazan 2015, Budapest 2017, and 2022.

While the women’s side is missing many big names, the men’s side is completely stacked, and the medals could pretty much go to anyone in the field. The favorite, on paper at least, is the defending Olympic champion Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary.

Rasovszky earned silver in the Tokyo 10k before upgrading to gold in Paris last year. He’s coming off of nabbing gold at the European Championships in May and looks to have not skipped a beat since the Olympics about a year ago. With 6 total world open water medals, he’s established himself as one most consistent podium finishers He’s raced two World Cup stops this season, taking 8th and 4th respectively, but seems to be building his season strategically after logging some best times in the pool at the Hungarian Championships in April. This included a swift 3:45.32 in the 400 free, showing that his speed is improving, which could be dangerous if he’s caught up in a pack with a few hundred meters to go.

Besides Rasovszky, the other Olympic medalists from Paris will also be among the competitors: Germany’s Oliver Klemet and Rasovszky’s countryman David Betlehem. Klemet has had a very similar season to Rasovszky in terms of his improvement in the pool swimming events. He’s been 17th, 25th, and 3rd at the three World Cup stops this season, seemingly building momentum, while also posting some huge swims in the pool that include a 3:43.40 in the 400 and 14:39.03 in the 1500. Betlehem, on the other hand, has grabbed a pair of runner-up finishes in the 5k at various competitions throughout the year, but was 34th in his only 10k at the World Cup this season.

Outside of Olympic medalists, the 2021 Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock always seems to be a factor in these races. He won the 2019 and 2023 world titles, despite falling to 8th in Paris. Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri is another contender. He’s the 2022 world champion who was 9th in Paris, known for his specialty in the 1500 free in the pool where he claimed the 2016 title and 2024 silver.

With 7 open water medals total in his career, Paltrinieri is one of the most decorated men’s distance swimmers of all time. In the pool, he won gold in the 1500 free at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has collected 2 silver medals and a bronze. He took silver in the 1500 free in Paris and bronze in the 800 free. In Tokyo, Paltrinieri captured bronze in the 10k. The 29-year-old has won World Championships gold in the 10k in 2022 and in the open water relay in 2023. He’s collected a trio of World Championships silvers in the open water events – a pair in the 5k in 2022 and 2023, and one in the relay in 2019. Paltrinieri added bronze in the open water relay at the 2022 World Championships. The veteran is a six-time European Championships open water gold medalist.

Wellbrock, who has 10 open water career medals, won gold in this event at the Tokyo Olympics four years ago. He claimed gold in the 10k at the 2023 and 2019 World Championships, in the 5k at the 2022 World Championships, and in the 4×1500 open water relay in 2022. Paltrinieri has raced in two 10k World Cup races this year, being disqualified in the first and placing 15th in the other, while Wellbrock has raced just once, placing 6th. Wellbrock was known as a pool swimmer through the 2019 Worlds, where he won the 1500 world title, before focusing much more on the open water sector. Over the past season, he has regained his pool form that he lost over the previous two seasons, logging a world-leading 14:36.25 1500 free in April.

Andrea Filadelli, teammate of Paltrinieri, doesn’t have a significant amount of experience, but did walk away victorious at the Cyprus World Cup stop. He’s a good tactical racer, and will need to build a bit of a cushion before the final few hundred meters if he wants to hold off those with better closing speed.

France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier also needs to be mentioned. The current World Cup points leader in 2025, winning one of the legs, Olivier was the silver medalist in last year’s Worlds in Doha behind Rasovszky and also won silver in Gwangju 2019 and bronze in Budapest 2017. Olivier was the 5k champ back in Budapest 2017, but has yet to win a major 10k race. He was 7th at the home Games in Paris.

There are plenty of names in both races who could be medal contenders, and we can’t mention them all, but feel free to peruse the start lists yourself to familiarize yourself with the full field before action kicks off in less than 48 hours’ time:

START LISTS

• Women’s 10k Start Lists
• Men’s 10k Start Lists

The 10K is the only Olympic event on the open water schedule, but the 5K, 3km knockout sprint, and 4x1500m relay will also unfold throughout the week.

Be sure to check SwimSwam for live recaps of each race.