2020 FRENCH OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS
Hector Pardoe of Great Britain broke through in a big way in the men’s 25k race of the 2020 French Open Water Championships.
The 19-year-old took on the grueling race at Ile des Loisirs, Jablines where he wound up snagging the silver medal in the men’s open category, finishing just over 15 seconds behind winner Axel Reymond of France.
Pardoe checked in with a time of 4:59:03.92, a result which renders the teen as Great Britain’s first-ever swimmer to finish a 25k distance in under 5 hours. Alan Bircher, now coach at Ellesmere Titans and former mentor of two-time European Shorts Championships gold medalist Freya Anderson, held the previous OW record from 2005.
Of his performance, Pardoe stated via social media, “25k silver today at the French Championships in 4:59.03 hours. Water temperature was 17.4 with wet conditions, a good first experience and some good hard work, pushed a little too hard from the 15-20km mark and felt it at the end, more pain more gain!”
Speaking with SwimSwam after the race, Pardoe added, “The race was my first 25k, so was certainly a challenge in my head before starting. I felt pretty good throughout the race but have only been back in training for three weeks following an extended 2-week holiday. The last lap most definitely took its toll on me.
“It was extremely hard mentally beforehand, starting knowing that you have 5 hours of non-stop swimming ahead of you and 25k, but the feeling afterward of finishing surpassed any of the pre-race nerves.”
Pardoe concluded, “I’m very happy with the ned result and look forward to adding the 25k to open water program for future races.”
Pardoe is one of the newly-named members of Great Britain’s High-Performance squads, identified as a member of its Podium Potential team.
25km silver 🥈today at the French Championships in 4.59.03 hours 🇫🇷 water temperature was 17.4 with wet conditions, a good first experience and some good hard work, pushed a little too hard from the 15-20km mark and felt it at the end, more pain more gain! 💪🏼 #openwater pic.twitter.com/9f9umGsAkK
— Hector Pardoe (@hector_pardoe) September 28, 2020
Alan was actually his old coach, must be happy to see his record passed on to a swimmer he helped along the way. Nice job 👍🏼