2024 World Championships
- February 2-8, 2024 (Open Water)
- Competition Results
The men’s 5km open water race came down to the finish as Frenchmen Logan Fontaine and Marc-Antoine Olivier earned a 1-2 finish. Fontaine finished in a 51:29.30 while Olivier finished in a 51:29.60.
Fontaine spoke of France’s 1-2 finish saying, “To see two French guys on the podium makes me feel more confident before the relay tomorrow. Marco won a medal at 10km and I wanted to do it too. It is also a good thing before Paris. So at this moment I feel very cool. For this moment, I try to relax a bit and work on the pressure before the Olympics in my home country. I will take that just like another competition.”
Italy’s Domenico Acerenza rounded out the podium finishing in a 51:30.00, less than a second off of gold. Acerenza won bronze at the 2023 World Championships in the 5km event as well. The 10km marathon champion from Sunday, Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary was 4th in a 51:30.50.
After winning the women’s 10km marathon on Saturday, Sharon Van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands won the women’s 5km open water event on Wednesday. Van Rouwendaal finished in a 51:29.30, just over a second ahead of Australia’s Chelsea Gubecka who finished in a 57:35.00. Gubecka was out fast in the race and led after the first lap but Van Rouwendaal took over about halfway through the race.
Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha rounded off the podium as she finished in a 57:36.80. Both Van Rouwendaal and Cunha made the podium this past summer in the event at the 2023 World Championships as Van Rouwendaal won silver and Cunha won bronze.
Van Rouwendaal spoke of today’s win saying, “I did not expect to win another gold because I was so focused on the 10km and I felt very tired mentally after the 10km. The body was quite good – the arms just had some problems and some issues with my hip and my leg. So I was like ‘let ́s see when I am in the water’. And when I was in the water, I was surprised I was in the front. I told myself ‘let ́s just try something’. I took the risk and it has paid off.”
Unlike the 10km marathon event, the 5km event is not an event that will occur at the 2024 Paris Olympics later this year. This means that no quota spots were up for grabs today. Open water competition will conclude Thursday with the mixed 4x1500m team event.
Was that Rowdy commentating the teams race? I was so confused because he didn’t annoy me.
It was Mike Lewis – usually a US Swimming photographer. With Will Rollo (AUS) & Colin Hill (GBR).
Well that explains it! Thanks
Great relay finish between AUS & ITA!!
I wasn’t impressed with Acerenza. Very unsportsmanlike. I know OW finishes are brutal but that was a bit insidious for my taste.
Rasovszky was once again impressive, securing bronze for Hungary with a 40 second handicap behind Germany (and 20 seconds behind US) at the last changeover.
OMG!!!! That was nuts !! Did anyone else see the end of that team race! It was like boxing!!
Australia GOLD!
Moesha Johnson swam a great lead-off (15-32) for AUS in the mixed 4×1500
This is so exciting! Australia 2.7 seconds behind Italy at the last changeover. Germany 20 seconds back and USA 34 seconds back. The Aussies going so well!
The TV coverage could be better. They do tend to miss a few key parts of the race.
It’s tough to cover an event like this with so much happening in different positions. You really need the director to be an open-water expert as well as commentators. Hard to co-ordinate.
I thought Dom Acerenza had the win until his teammate G. Palt swam across the legs of all 3 medallists to try and get a better line to the finish for himself, turned out it worked in both Frenchman’s favour and his countryman was relegated to the bronze. Super tight racing and super tight finish. These Openwater races just get more and more interesting as everyone adapts ways to overcome the dominance that any one racer tries to impart
I had the same reaction – in fact I stayed on the live feed until the official results were posted as I thought there was a chance they would DQ Greg. He went right overtop the lead line with 15m to go!
Both the men’s and women’s 5ks were intense – really enjoyed them and they deserve more coverage.
Amen 🙌.
This sport has really pretty boring coverage. Watching a bunch of guys finish an open water race just isn’t that interesting. At least show different phases of the race and scenery, backstory.
Agree the footage is average at best. With drone and camera technology today, there is so much room for improvement on this side of the telecast. And with better footage we will see more accurate race calling as well, win win.
The actual racing however, couldn’t be more intriguing. When the average person understands the pace these guys and gals are holding, the appreciation for what is going on cannot be understated in my opinion.