Axel Reymond Wins Men’s 10KM in Photo Finish at U.S. Open Water Nationals

2024 U.S. Open Water National Championships

• May 3-5, 2024
• Sarasota, FL
• Nathan Benderson Park
• Open Water
• Meet Info
• Full 10km Results

Axel Reymond, a French open water marathon swimmer champion, managed to snag the national championship title in the men’s 10km by a tiny margin after a gripping final stretch in the race.

The top three competitors touched so close together that the official results came only after a photo analysis of the finish.

Reymond secured the top spot on the podium with his time of 1:53:20, while Ivan Puskovitch and Dylan Gravley came in 2nd and 3rd respectively, both with a time of 1:53:21.

Hard-fought battle in the men’s 10K 💪#OWNats https://t.co/iFD3gaHjrI pic.twitter.com/Nj00cVu0c4

— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) May 3, 2024

Prior to his victory earlier today, Reymond had already racked up 11 medals in the open water competitions over the course of his career so far, six of them gold.

Puskovitch’s performance as the top American finisher in the race solidified his position as a frontrunner for the 2024 U.S. Open Water National Team which will be announced in September.

Six men and six women will be named to the National Team, with first priority going to those who compete in the 10km event at the Olympics followed by the best finishing athletes from the 2024 U.S. Open Water National Championships.

The 22-year-old West Virginia University senior previously qualified for the Paris Olympics in the men’s 10km open water swim after placing 14th in the event at the 2024 World Aquatics Championships in Doha.

After the swim Puskovitch commented on his performance and what it means for upcoming races such as the Olympics.

“That was my highest finish at Nationals, so that’s boding pretty well for the future,” Puskovitch said. “I wanted to try a few new things in that race with Paris coming up, because that’s going to be a really fast and really competitive event. And fortunately, with my spot booked, I could afford to experiment a little bit in this race. I’m happy with the way it turned out.”

Meanwhile Gravley, currently a junior at Arizona State University, repeated his podium finish from last year’s national championship in Sarasota, where he placed 3rd behind older brother Brennan Gravley and Spain’s Carlos Garach.

Competition continues through the rest of this weekend, with the Junior National 5km taking place on Saturday and the National 5km and Junior National 7.5km on Sunday.

Top 10 Results 

1. Axel Reymond – 1:53:20
2. Ivan Puskovitch – 1:53:21
3. Dylan Gravely – 1:53:21
4. Trey Dickey – 1:53:29
5. Taishin Minamide – 1:53:31
6. Luke Ellis – 1:53:32
7. Ethan Parker – 1:53:32
8. Joshua Brown – 1:53:32
9. Gabriel Manteufel – 1:53:36
10. Chip Wheelie Shoyat – 1:53:49