10 km World Champion Jordan Wilimovsky of the United States and Australian Chelsea Gubecka took the men’s and women’s 10 km events on the first day of competition at the Australian Open Water Championships.
Wilimovsky and Jack Burnell of Great Britain, who finished fifth in the event at the World Championships, went one-two in Mooloolaba. Both men have already qualified for Rio by placing in the top 10 in Kazan.
The next two men to finish were still looking for their opportunities to be selected for the Australian Olympic team. Jarrod Poort out swam of Rhys Mainstone and finished as the top Australian in the race. With his performance Poort qualified to swim the 10 km at an Olympic qualifying competition in Setubal, Portugal on June 11th.
The Australians did not have anyone qualify for the Olympic Games at the World Championships. Following the IOC’s qualifying process the nation can enter two athletes of each gender into the competition in June. Based on their finishes in Kazan Simon Huitenga and Gubecka were automatically selected to swim Portugal, which left an open spot for an athlete of each gender to be selected from the field this weekend.
Gubecka won the women’s event followed by fellow Australian Kareena Lee. With her second place finish Lee will also be headed to Portugal for an opportunity to qualify for the Olympics.
Full results can be found here.
