Following the final Open Water swimming qualifier, held in Setubal, Portugal last weekend, FINA has released a roster of 25 men and 25 women who have been confirmed Open Water racing in Tokyo. The top 10 men’s and women’s finishers from the 2019 World Championships earned spots, while the other 15 were selected from last weekend’s race in Portugal. Results for last weekend’s qualifier can be found here.
Here is the list of confirmed swimmer for Tokyo:
MEN (25)
Florian WELLBROCK (GER) – 1st Gwangju 2019
Marc-Antoine OLIVIER (FRA) – 2nd Gwangju 2019
Rob MUFFELS (GER) – 3rd Gwangju 2019
Kristof RASOVSZKY (HUN) – 4th Gwangju 2019
Jordan WILIMOVSKY (USA) – 5th Gwangju 2019
Gregorio PALTRINIERI (ITA) – 6th Gwangju 2019
Ferry WEERTMAN (NED) – 7th Gwangju 2019
Alberto MARTINEZ (ESP) – 8th Gwangju 2019
Mario SANZULLO (ITA) – 9th Gwangju 2019
David AUBRY (FRA) – 10th Gwangju 2019
Hector PARDOE (GBR) – 1st FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Athanasios KYNIGAKIS (GRE) – 2nd FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Matan RODITI (ISR) – 4th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Kai Graeme EDWARDS (AUS) – 5th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Taishin MINAMIDE (JPN) – 6th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Tiago CAMPOS (POR) – 7th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Kirill ABROSIMOV (RUS) – 8th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
David FARINANGO (ECU) – 9th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Oussama MELLOULI (TUN) – 10th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Michael McGLYNN (RSA) – 11th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Daniel DELGADILLO (MEX) – 12th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Matej KOZUBEK (CZE) – Europe slot – 13th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Hau-Li FAN (CAN) – America slot – 18th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Philip SEIDLER (NAM) – Africa slot – 25th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
William Yan THORLEY – Asia slot – 26th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
WOMEN (25)
Xin XIN (CHN) – 1st Gwangju 2019
Haley ANDERSON (USA) – 2nd Gwangju 2019
Rachele BRUNI (ITA) – 3rd Gwangju 2019
Lara GRANGEON (FRA) – 4th Gwangju 2019
Ana Marcela CUNHA (BRA) – 5th Gwangju 2019
Ashley TWICHELL (USA) – 6th Gwangju 2019
Kareena LEE (AUS) – 7th Gwangju 2019
Finnia WUNRAM (GER) – 8th Gwangju 2019
Leonie BECK (GER) – 9th Gwangju 2019
Sharon van ROUWENDAAL (NED) – 10th Gwangju 2019
Anna OLASZ (HUN) – 1st FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Paula RUIZ BRAVO (ESP) – 2nd FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Kate SANDERSON (CAN) – 3rd FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Alice DEARING (GBR) – 4th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Angelica ANDRE (POR) – 5th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Cecilia BIAGIOLI (ARG) – 7th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Anastasiia KIRPICHIKOVA (RUS) – 8th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Samantha AREVALO (ECU) – 9th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Spela PERSE (SLO) – 11th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Yumi KIDA (JPN) – 12th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Michelle WEBER (RSA) – 15th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Paola PEREZ (VEN) – America slot – 17th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Krystyna PANCHISHKO – Europe slot – 18th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Li-Shan Chantal LIEW (SGP) – Asia slot – 29th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Souad Nefissa CHEROUATI (ALG) – Africa slot – 30th FINA Olympic Marathon Swim Qualifier
Notably, all of the top 10 women’s and men’s finishers from 2019 World Champs are confirmed as entrants for Tokyo. Gregorio Paltrinieri, an Italian superstar men’s distance swimmer, pulled out of the Sette Colli Trophy for this weekend due to a mono diagnosis. It’s far too soon to tell, but because mono can have lingering symptoms that sometimes last for extended periods of time, it’s possible Paltrinieri may ultimately end up pulling out of the open water racing in Tokyo. Paltrinieri is also set to race in the pool in Tokyo, where he is the defending Olympic champion in the men’s 1500m freestyle.
Great Britain’s Hector Pardoe won last weekend’s men’s qualifier, picking up Great Britain’s first men’s open water qualification for Tokyo. Czech swimmer Matej Kozubek picked up the Europe slot at last weekend’s qualifier, while Canada’s Hau-Li Fan taking the America slot, Nambia’s Philip Seidler took the Africa slot, and Hong Kong’s William Yan Thorley took the Asia slot.
In last weekend’s women’s qualifier, Hungary’s Anna Olasz won, giving Hungary its first women’s qualification for Tokyo. Venezuela earned its first open water qualifier for this Olympic Games, thanks to Paola Perez grabbing the America slot in the women’s race. Ukraine’s Krystyna Panchishko earned the Europe slot, Singapore’s Li-Shan Chantal Liew picked up the Asia slot, and Algerian Souad Nefissa Cherouati earned the Africa slot.
The continental spots went to the highest-placed finisher from each of FINA’s five continents (Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania), who had not already qualified for Tokyo. For example, Matej Kozubek finished 13th at the Portugal qualifier, which is outside of the top 9 finishers who automatically earned Tokyo qualifications. However, Kozubek was the highest-placing European swimmer who hadn’t yet qualified, so he earned the European continental slot.
There was only one Oceania swimmer who raced at the Portugal qualifier, Australia’s Kai Graeme Edwards, who finished 5th in the men’s race. Due to his 5th-place finish, Edwards automatically earned a qualification for Tokyo. There was another Australian swimmer, Nick Sloman, who finished 15th at the qualifier. However, since Australia didn’t have a swimmer qualify for the Olympics at the 2019 World Championships, they were only allowed to have a maximum of one swimmer qualify for Tokyo at the Portugal qualifier, per FINA rules.
Since there were no other swimmers from an Oceania country outside of Australia, and Australia had already hit its maximum number of qualifiers, the Oceania continental slots went unfilled. Originally, the top 9 finishers at the qualifier would earn qualifications for Tokyo, and the top finisher outside of the top 9 from each of the 5 continents would also qualify. Since Oceania’s continental spots went unfilled, the top 10 finishers ended up earning qualifications, as well as the top finisher from each of the other 4 continents.
The Olympic 10k is set to be held on August 4th for women, and August 5th for men.
Too bad about Paltrinieri.
Nick Sloman swam also for Australia. Was he not allowed one of the Oceania spots?
No. The only way for a country to send two swimmers in OW to the Olympics is if they both finish top 10 a the World Championships.
The qualification system in this event is nonsense, with these continental slots and only top 10 from the World Championship is qualified, and no name countries get a chance at the Marathon Swimming Qualifier. Countries with more then one good athelte only able to get two swimmers/sex from the World Championships.
And a girl from Singapure or Algeria can quailify with a 29. & 30. position. Both of them get more 10 minutes from the first. Thats over a minute/km.
They took the universality selection idea to the extreme, although I guess it’s a nice reward for having to swim for 2 hours.
How does it work with the continental slots? i.e. America, Europe, Asia, Africa.
Cheering for Haley! She was close to making the 800 with a big time drop. Hope she does well in OW