Olympian Jarrod Poort was the first place Australian in the men’s open water 10k race on day 1 of the 2017 Australian National Open Water Championships, while a pair of sisters made the cut on the women’s side. 18-year-old Chelsea Gubecka outright won the women’s 10k event, while 14-year-old sister Chloe touched in 3rd. The top 4 finishers on both the men’s and women’s sides in the 10k move on to compete at the Abu Dhabi World Cup in the hopes of claiming a stop on the Aussie World Championships roster.
Of his 10k swim, Poort says in the Swimming Australia video, “I always believe in myself. I always knew that if I swam smart I could get the job done.” Preparation-wise, Poort explains that he is only at about ‘50%’ after having taking a long training break post-Rio.
“I knew it was going to come down to a sprint finish, so I just conserved, conserved.”
As for the women, Chelsea said her moving on to Abu Dhabi is ‘pretty unreal’, although she says she is ‘more excited for my sister.’ Younger Gubecka, Chloe, commented, “I knew I had a really good shot of getting top 4 and that was my goal. To make it with my sister is pretty awesome.”
Full 10k open water results and recap here.
AB
Little brother Kolby scored in the age 5 kms also . Like I said – that pic in the lical paper .