FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup Rankings

After 7 very exciting FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup events conducted this year in Santos (Brazil), Setubal (Portugal), Lac St-Jean (Canada), Varna (Bulgaria), Lake Annecy (France), Copenhagen (Denmark) and Manhattan (USA), the top 30 professional marathon male swimmers to date are listed below. 5 more races in Chun An, Shantou and Hong Kong (China), and Dubai and Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) will close out the 2009 season.

1. Thomas Lurz (Germany) - 100 points
2. Allan do Carmo (Brazil) - 88
3. Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria) - 58
4. Vladimir Dyatchin (Russia) - 44
5. Sergai Bolshakov (Russia)- 34
6. Christian Reichert (Germany) - 32
7. Brian Ryckeman (Belgium) - 28
8. Jan Wolfgarten (Germany) - 24
9. Daniel Fogg (Great Britain) - 22
10. Simone Ercoli (Italy) - 20
10. Alexander Studzinski (Germany) - 20
12. Luca Ferretti (Italy) - 18
12. David Browne (Australia) - 18
12. Charles Cullom (USA) - 18
15. Valerio Cleri (Italy) - 16
15. Joanes Hedel (France) - 16
15. Stephane Gomez (France) - 16
15. Fran Crippen (USA) - 16
19. Spyridon Gianniotis (Greece) - 14
19. Luis Escobar (Mexico) - 14
19. Chad Ho (South Africa) - 14
22. Mazen Aziz (Egypt) - 12
22. Sergiy Fesenko (Azerbaijan) - 12
24. Nicola Bolzonello (Italy) - 10
24. Arseniy Lavrentyev (Portugal) - 10
24. Gabriel Villagoiz (Argentina) - 10
24. Daniel Delgadillo (Mexico) - 10
24. Barton Wells (USA) - 10
30. Loic Branda (France) - 9

Give Her An Inch And She Takes A Mile

Britta Kamrau took a slight lead over three Olympic 10K medalists and won the 1-mile Great Scottish Swim in 18:56 seconds. Larisa Ilchenko was second in 18:58 and Keri-Anne Payne was third in 19:01.

Daniil Serebrennikov of Russia, Jan Wolfgarten of Germany and David Carry of Scotland finished 1-2-3 on the men's side.

Britta's victory over a tough field in Scotland should give her a lot of confidence heading into the RCP Tiburon Mile in San Francisco to be held on September 13th.

Rowdy Gaines and John Naber give a tune-up to the 2008 RCP Tiburon Mile, site of Britta's US$10,000 winner-take-all victory:

German Team To Rome - Shout It Out

The German Swimming Federation announced its 2009 World Swimming Championship team with Stephanie Biller (shown on left) and Angela Maurer swimming the 10K and 25K, Nadine Pastor and Britta Kamrau swimming the 5K, Thomas Lurz and Jan Wolfgarten in the 5K, and Thomas and Christian Reichert in the 10K.

Stephanie's coach, Alan Bircher, said: "The 25km is the one we started the season looking for a medal at the worlds in, so it’s great news she has been picked. There are a lot of very good girls, so you can’t guarantee anything, but I think she’s in with a great shout."

Lurz Doubles Up In Germany, Heading To Rome

The six-time world champion Thomas Lurz and Nadine Pastor won the 5K titles at the Germany's Open Water Swimming National Championships. Thomas won in 54:40.96 over Jan Wolfgarten who finished in 54:45.11. Nadine just barely touched out Britta Kamrau in 1:00:21.8 vs. 1:00:22.4.

All four will be representing Germany at the 2009 World Swimming Championships in the 5K with Thomas doubling-up in the 5K and 10K as he has done over the last several years.

Photo by Giorgio Scalia.

Greek Victory in the Men's 5K Time Trial

Spyridon Gianniotis, a Greek soldier by profession, won his most important battle to date when he captured his first European Open Water Swimming title in the men’s 5K time trial event. Gianniotis, who finished 12th in the 1500-meter freestyle in the pool and 16th in the 10K race in Beijing and finaled in both the 400 and 1500 in the 2004 Athens Olympics, used his speed to dominate the competition. Gianniotis finished in 52:57.2, nearly 1 minute ahead of Germany's Jan Wolfgarten (53:55.7) and Thomas Lurz (54:04.3).

Gianniotis, who was near the lead with David Davies towards the end of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim in Beijing said, "As a former pool swimmer, the time trial format suits me very well. I led for a long time in yesterday’s 10K race, while the others behind me saved their strength and overtook me at the end. However, I shall continue to compete in both the 5km time trial and the 10km events."

Jan Wolfgarten, who swam in his first-ever international open water swimming event expressed his gratitude for his German teammate, "It was a big problem to swim against the sun on the way back to the finish. I hardly cold see anything. In between I almost panicked because I thought I had missed a buoy, but luckily it then appeared. The silver medal is fantastic at my first ever participation in a major international open water swimming event. Of course I benefit a lot from practising together with Thomas Lurz who gives me valuable advice. Now I may think about the 2012 Olympics."

Lurz, who won the 10K the previous day, graciously recalled "I could still feel yesterday’s race in my bones and the after-effects from the Olympics because I reduced training after Beijing. Considering this, I’m very happy with the bronze medal, and congratulate the two competitors ahead of me. Spiridon in particular really deserved to finally win a title. He did a lot in many competitions this year."

Upper photo of Spyridon Gianniotis taken by Giorgio Scala of Deepbluemedia.

Middle photo shows last turn buoy of the men's 5K time trial, taken by Giorgio Scala of Deepbluemedia.

Lower photo shows Luca Ferretti of Italy at the starting pontonn, taken by Giorgio Scala of Deepbluemedia.