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

World Championship Men's 10K Race Results

The confirmed men's 10K race results from the 2009 World Championships are as follows:

Gold: Thomas Lurz (GER), 1:52:06.9
Silver: Andrew Gemmell (USA), 1:52:08.3
Bronze: Fran Crippen (USA), 1:52:10.7

4. Valerio Cleri (ITA), 1:52:11.4
5. Brian Ryckeman (BEL), 1:52:13.1
6. Spyridon Gianniotis (GRE), 1:52:13.6
7. Francisco Jose Hervas (ESP), 1:52:14.7
8. Trent Grimsey (AUS), 1:52:14.8
9. Mazen Metwaly (EGY), 1:52:14.9
10. Evgeny Drattsev (RUS), 1:52:15.0
11. Luis Escober (MEX), 1:52:18.0
12. Jakub Fichtl (CZE), 1:52:24.0
13. Csaba Gercsak (HUN), 1:52:28.0
14. Arseniy Lavrentyev (POR), 1:52:28.2
15. Diego Nogueira Montero (ESP), 1:52:37.1
16. Antonio Fokaidis (GRE), 1:52:41.3
17. Daniel Fogg (GBR), 1:52:44.3
18. Sergey Bolshakov (RUS), 1:52:44.5
19. Ivan Lopez (MEX), 1:52:45.9
20. Julien Codevelle (FRA), 1:52:47.2
21. Rhys Mainstone (AUS), 1:52:50.2
22. Allan Do Carmo (BRA), 1:52:52.2
23. Chad Ho (RSA), 1:53:13.1
24. Bertrand Venturi (FRA), 1:53:14.5
25. Adel El-Behary (EGY), 1:53:52.1
26. Simon Tobin-Daignault (CAN), 1:53:53.9
27. Christian Reichert (GER), 1:54:09.9
28. Michael Dmitriev (ISR), 1:54:29.6
29. Petar Stoychev (BUL), 1:54:50.8
30. Jan Posmourny (CZE), 1:55.17.4
31. Ventsislav Aydarski (BUL), 1:55:53.5
32. Simone Ercoli (ITA), 1:56:46.3
33. Daniel Viegas (POR), 1:58:21.3
34. Craig Hamilton (GBR), 1:58:55.7
35.Kurt Niehaus (CRC), 1:59:25.0
36. Ivan Enderica (ECU), 1:59:29.4
37. Philippe Dubreuil (CAN), 1:59:38.9
38. Marcelo Romanelli Soares (BRA), 2:00:42.2
39. Esteban Enderica (ECU), 2:01:48.8
40. Josip Soldo (CRO), 2:08:07.2
41. Tomislav Soldo (CRO), 2:12:19.8
42. Juan Prem Biere (GUA), 2:20:48.2
Elgun Babayev (AZE), DNF
Rusian Bolshakov (AZE), DNF
Angel Moreira (VEN), DNF
Igor Chervynskiy (UKR), DSQ
Igor Snitko (UKR), DSQ
Yvan Hernandez (VEN), DSQ

Luca Ferretti Protects His Turf In The Surf

Luca Ferretti and Simone Ruffini of Italy finished 1-2 at the 5K LEN European Open Water Swimming Cup in Isola del Giglio in Italy this weekend. Brian Ryckeman of Belgium, Diego Nogueira of Spain and Simone Ercoli of Italy finished third, fourth and fifth respectively.

On the women's side, Spain's Yurema Requena, a Olympic marathon swimmer (shown on left), beat Alice Franco of Italy and Jana Pechanova of the Czech Republic for the top spot.

The top 3 times for the men and women were as follows:

1. Luca Ferretti, 47:23.0
2. Simone Ruffini, 47:31.7
3. Brian Ryckeman, 47:32.1

1. Yurema Requena, 51:02.6
2. Alice Franco, 51:06.0
3. Jana Pechanova, 51:07.3

The LEN Open Water Swimming Cup continues in Porec, Croatia on July 5th, in Hoorn, The Netherlands on August 2nd, in Navia, Spain on August 8th and in Marmaris-Mugla in Turkey on September 5-6.

Close Finish In The Red Sea

British 1500-meter Olympian Richard Charlesworth won the 10K race in the Red Sea in Eilat, Israel at the first LEN Open Water Swimming Cup this 2009 season in a typically close race, winning by 0.2 seconds over Brian Ryckeman of Belgium. The top four men finished within 1.05 seconds of one another.

"It was the speed from the last buoy that really made the differance. I was fourth with about 70 meters to go. It was a relatively slow paced race."

"It was quite choppy for about 400 meters of each lap and we did end up going off course once or twice," said Richard who was elated that he qualified for the 2009 World Swimming Championships in both the 5K and 1500-meter freestyle.

Coming Together For the World Swimming Championships

The World Swimming Championships are coming up in Rome in July, the first major international competition after the successful Beijing Olympics.

The national governing bodies at the elite levels of marathon swimming prepare and select their top athletes in a variety of ways.

The Mexican national open water team was selected during the races on the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix circuit in Mexico.

Germany is holding their national team qualification races in a lake in Germany in a few weeks.

Russia is holding their qualifications at their national 5K, 10K and 16K championships in late June in Anapa in the Black Sea.

Canada and the USA are jointly holding their qualification races in the Ft. Myers beach in Florida in mid-June. USA Swimming will conduct one race (the 10K) off of which all its 5K, 10K and 25K swimmers will be chosen.

Australia and New Zealand held their respective world championship qualification races at the Australian Age and Open Water Swimming Championships in Sydney in February.

British Swimming is holding its qualification races at the first stage of the LEN Open Water Swimming Cup (Ligue Europeenne de Natation) 10K race in Israel this weekend. Besides the top European swimmers, including Olympians Brian Ryckeman of Belgium and Richard Charlesworth of Great Britain, Natalie du Toit will also compete in a tune-up swim for the World Swimming Championships.

While Brian has already qualified for Belgium, Richard and Natalie still must perform well to represent their countries. Natalie only has to swim under 2:30 to qualify, which should not be a problem. "It's a pretty tough time, but I am getting better and better at open water. I've got a few races coming up and I'm feeling sort of confident, sort of not. I've put so much into the 10K and I'm really looking forward to the world championships."

The Italians welcomed Natalie in their national championships which will concurrently serve as their qualification races including the 5K race in Piombino on June 7th, the 10K race in Lerici on June 2nd and the 25K race in Formia on June 14th.

As the summer months roll on, the world prepares for Rome.

Photo of Luca Ferritti of Italy by Giorgio Scala of deepbluemedia.

Giving 100% from Start to Finish

Brian Ryckeman will be the only open water swimming representative of Belgium at the 2009 World Swimming Championships in Rome. Brian is shown in middle in the photo on left taken at the start of the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim.


Brian will swim the 10K and the 25K in Rome. Brian was selected because he finished in the Top 3 in the FINA World Cup (accomplished in 2006), the Top 8 in the World Championships (accomplished in 2007) or the Top 8 at the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim (accomplished in Beijing when he placed 7th - shown on left).

Brian has always given it his all...from start to finish.

Olympians Headline Midmar Mile 10K

Olympic 10K Marathon Swim athletes took part in the world's biggest open water swim, the Midmar Mile in South Africa including a full contingent of British stars headlined by Keri-Anne Payne and Cassandra Patten, and defending champion Chad Ho of South Africa and Hungarian Csaba Gercsak.

In the 10K Midmar Mile Long-Distance race, a prelude to the Halfway Telkom Midmar Mile, Christian Reichert of Germany won in 2:01:18, beating Belgium's Brian Ryckeman (shown above) by 18 seconds. Ryckeman was 7th in the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim, but could not catch the blazing Reichert under difficult conditions.

Nadine Pastor of Germany, who recently place third in the first leg of the 2009 FINA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup in Brazil, kept up with the leading men for the first 5K and comfortably won the women’s race comfortably.

Midmar Mile 10K Top 10 Results
1. Christiaan Reichert (Germany) 2:01:18.1
2. Brian Ryckeman (Belgium) 2:01:36.1
3. Tyrone Venter (South Africa) 2:04:49.2
4. Nadine Pastor (Germany) 2:05:35.1
5. Charlotte Woolenscroft (Great Britain) 2:07:11.6
6. Alice McCall (Great Britain) 2:16:28.7
7. Belinda Van der Merwe (Great Britain) 2:51:36.1
8. Nadia Bacchini (South Africa) 2:57:15.2
9. Ingrid Kruger (South Africa) 2:57:15.2
10. Devon Thomson (South Africa) 3:08:09.4

Copyright © 2009 by Open Water Source

Open Water Swimming in the Guinness Book of Records

The 1.2K Lorne Pier to Pub set an official Guinness World Record in the category of "most participants in an open water race" when 3,071 swimmers completed the 1998 Pier to Pub. The event has since gone on to increase its participants, but capped its maximum number at 4,000 starting in 2001.


Today, in western Australia, the inaugural 1K ECU West Coast 1000 World Record Swim will attempt to break that record by getting to the 5,000-participant mark.


Whatever event sets (or keeps) the world record, it will be hard-pressed to keep up with the amazing popularity and growth of the 36th Halfway Telkom Midmar Mile in the picturesque Kwa Zulu Natal Midlands in South Africa in February 2009.

The Midmar Mile has reached unprecedented heights by adding 5K, 10K and 25K races to the traditional 1-mile race in the Midmar Dam.

In addition to South African stars, like Chad Ho, a 2008 World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year nominee, a talented group of international stars will head over to the Midmar Mile to win the prestigious event.

Beijing Olympic 10K Marathon Swim bronze medalist and another World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year nominee Thomas Lurz will lead the international charge that will include Beijing Olympic 10K Marathon Swim silver medalist and another World Open Water Swimming Man of the Year nominee David Davies, woman’s Olympic 10K Marathon Swim silver medalist Keri-Anne Payne, Olympic 10K Marathon Swim bronze medalist Cassandra Patten, European 5K champion Spyridon Gianniotis, Hungarian Olympian 10K’er Csaba Gercsak, 2008 FINA World Cup series champion Valerio Cleri, Italian Olympian Martina Grimaldi, Italian pro swimmer Alice Franco, 7th-place finisher in the Olympic 10K Brian Ryckeman, Nika Kozamernik from Slovenia and Darija Pop from Montenegro.

For more information on the Midmar Mile, click here.

Upper photo of Spyridon Gianniotis by Giorgio Scala of Deep Blue Media. Lower photo of Keri-Anne Payne and Olympic 10K Marathon Swim bronze medalist Cassandra Patten.

A Olympic 10K Marathon Swim Darkhorse

Under the incredibly hot, humid and smoggy conditions in Beijing, it seems inplausible for athletes to swim the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim the same way they would do under normal or colder conditions.

Whether the water temperature is 28ºC (82ºF) or 31ºC (87.8ºF) and whether the humidity is 70% or 85%, the race conditions seem to favor those swimmers who are carrying less body fat than their competitors.

In the men's Olympic 10K Marathon Swim, these conditions seem to favor a lean swimmer like Brian Ryckeman of Belgium.

Brian is a 3:53 400-meter and a 15:31 1500-meter freestyler from Belgium who stands 6'-5" (201 cm) and weighs 165 lbs (74.8 kg). He has consistenty placed in the top 10 for years and can handle himself well in the physical battles. Most impressively, at the 2008 World Open Water Swimming Championships in Seville, Spain, Brian's feeding cup was smashed by one of his competitors and he had to swim the entire distance "on empty".

Brian may be flying under the radar at the Olympics, but the stars and weather may be lining up for a darkhorse medal swim for Belgium's lone open water swimmer in Beijing.

Photo by Javier Blazquez of the men's 10K race where Brian is shown in the black cap staring at Spyridon Gianniotis of Greece in the blue-and-white cap. Grant Hackett is ahead of them in the green cap, but Brian passed him in the last 2K.