2020 RUSSIAN OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, September 13th – Friday, September 18th
- Anapa, Krasnodar Krai Territory
- OW
- 10k Recap
- Results
The 2020 Russian Open Water Championships wrapped up today in Anapa, but not before Kirill Abrosimov snagged another gold, this time in the 16k.
The 28-year-old already won the 10k here, earning 18 points toward his overall Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification. However, Abrosimov wasn’t done, sealing the 16k victory in a time of 3:09:24.0.
In a 3+ hour race, it came down to the touch as runner-up Evgeny Drattsev finished just 5 seconds back in 3:09:29.6 to earn silver, just as he did in the 10k.
After the race, Abrosimov stated, “I counted on the finish, kept my strength especially for the last lap, rested a little in the middle of the distance, and then made a breakthrough and won.
“The first time I swam this distance 12 years ago, so today was just the second time swimming a 16k.
“Before, I was young and inexperienced, and now I know how to swim.”
For the women’s 16k, it was Volgograd’s Maria Novikova who got it done for gold, earning a time of 3:29:10.4. In another close finish, Yekaterina Sorokina touched just over a second back in 3:29:11.7, while bronze went to Valeria Ermakova in 3:29:18.0.
