Germans Britta Kamrau (shown below) and Alexander Studzinski (shown on left) won the second leg of the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix in Rosario, Argentina over the weekend. Britta finished in 2:11:10 in the 15K Maraton Acuatico Internacional - Rosario and Alexander finished in 2:05:02.
Home country favorites also performed well with Cecilia Biagioli placing third in the women's race and Gabriel Villagoiz and Damian Blaum finishing second and third in the men's race. The 30-year-old veteran Britta demonstrated her prowess in the triangle course in the Parana River, swimming six 1.8 laps after the initial 2K leg.
Alexander provided us with a first-hand synopsis of the race, "The race was slow in the beginning. I was always in front because nobody else wanted to lead. After 1.5 laps, there was a little gap between me and second place. I just kept swimming and the gap became bigger. I didn´t speed up or anything. After 2.5 laps, the gap was like 40 meters. I pushed for two [more] laps and it paid off. But nearly everybody [else] swam the entire [57K] race in Santa Fe - Coronda, but I got out after 3 hours due to stomach problems. So everybody was a bit tired and no one wanted to follow me."
Kind words, but Alexander appears to be on a comeback after placing 4th in the 2005 FINA World 25K Championships.
The next FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix race is in Viedma, Argentina. Additional photos below:
Women
1. Britta Kamrau-Corestein (Germany) 2:11:10
2. Anna Uvarova (Russia) 2:11:16
3. Cecilia Biagioli (Argentina) 2:13:07
Men
1. Alexander Studzinski (Germany) 2:05:02
2. Gabriel Villagoiz (Argentina) 2:06:54
3. Damian Blaum (Argentina) 2:06:56
3. Rodolfo Valenti (Italy) 2:06:56
Photo of Britta by Heiner Köpcke.
Copyright © 2009 by Open Water Source
1 comment:
Petar Stoychev? May he was too tired, or it is not his distance ;)15 KM is too short for such a swimmer. He will be back!
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