Harvard's Alex Meyer (USA) has won the 25km world crown on the last day of the championships in Roberval, touching a hand ahead of 10km winner Valerio Cleri (ITA), with bronze going to Petar Stoychev (BUL) more than a minute back. Cleri led for much of the way home but Meyer, coached by Tim Murphy, found the magic and more-often-than-not critical sprint finish and got his hand where it needed to be in the nick of time.
The women's race went to Linsy Heister (NED), sixth at Ostia, Roma09 titles, last year, in a commanding 5:52:13.0, 3 minutes and 26 seconds ahead of Margarita Dominguez Cabezas (ESP), with Celia Barrot (FRA) third.
The top finishers, 25km
Men
- 1 MEYER Alexander (USA) 5:32:39.380
- 2 CLERI Valerio (ITA) 5:32:40.400
- 3 STOYCHEV Petar (BUL) 5:33:50.290
- 4 STOCHINO Edoardo (ITA) 5:35:08.460
- 5 VENTURI Bertrand (FRA) 5:36:10.750
- 6 TOBIN Simon (CAN) 5:37:09.740
- 7 KINDERWATER Josef (USA) 5:37:32.670
- 8 HEDEL Joanes (FRA) 5:37:48.380
- 9 BLAUM Damian (ARG) 5:39:27.330
- 10 SMOLKA Libor (CZE) 5:39:31.300
Women
- 1 HEISTER Linsy (NED) 5:52:13.060
- 2 DOMINGUEZ CABEZAS Margarita (ESP) 5:55:59.290
- 3 BARROT Celia (FRA)5:57:02.870
- 4 ANDERSON Haley (USA) 6:00:15.230
- 5 UVAROVA Anna (RUS)6:00:21.890
- 6 HANSON Emily (USA) 6:03:15.750
- 7 POPOVA Kseniya (RUS) 6:06:25.020
- 8 GUILLEMETTE SIMARD Joannie (CAN) 6:23:05.360
- 9 BOGARIN Antonella (ARG) 6:41:51.110
Meyer's effort added a second gold medal to the American tally after Eva Fabian's 5km win and helped the USA finish second just 5 points behind Italy, Cleri having won the 10km crown among men and Martina Grimaldi the 10km women's gold ahead of teammate Georgia Consiglio in the first race in Roberval and one that, sadly, raised the spectre of suits once more and highlighted the need for rules to be followed and deadlines to be set in the interests of fair play.
In the 25km, Grimaldi (ITA) was given a red card just over 1.5 hours into the 25km title race at Roberval. The disqualification was handed down after the Italian touched the feeding dock. Just before the red card was givem, Grimaldi was among the top three in the race. At the 7.5km stage, the race was led by Celia Barrot (FRA), with Haley Anderson (USA), Kseniya Popova (RUS), Emily Hanson (USA) and Linsy Heister (NED) in close contention.
Grimaldi, understandably, left the water in tears, explaining to her coach that she touched the feeding dock inadvertently. Speaking through an interpreter, she said: "I stopped to drink and there were many others coming in at the same time. Someone pushed me and instinctively tried to steady myself and I touched the dock only to gain my balance and completely by accident. I am very angry as I thought I could win this race. I felt very comfortable with the race and confident after winning the 10K so easily. On balance, I am very pleased with my performances at these World Championships."
But the day went to the winners. "Winning this race really means more to me than my graduation from Harvard University in May," said Meyer. "I am an open water swimmer and very proud of what I do. I identify with this sport and also with the athletes competing here. I have put in a lot of work in open water swimming so this race was very important to me. Cleri is one of the world's best open water swimmers. I thought he would be the fastest in the field today and he would be the one I would need to beat if I wanted to win this race."
Heister was just as upbeat: "I felt really good today, very strong and in the 6th lap I made my plans to escape from the others. At this point the American (Emily Hanson) was swimming ahead of me and I felt this was time for me to make my move. To win this event is still so unreal to me, I still can't believe it. I don't have eyes in the back of my head and I didn't know what is going on behind me so I just kept swimming. You are always afraid that someone is coming up behind you. I saw boats and I didn't know if they were for the men or for the women, so I just kept going to stay ahead. I did not expect such a big gap. I thought the margin was only a few seconds, If I had known that it was a few minutes I would have swum more relaxed. The 10K is my priority race. I am swimming the 10K and the 25K in European Championships in Budapest."
Meyer raced the 25km in Rome last summer but was disqualified 50m from the line after swimming over a competitor engaged in battle in the parallel women's race. Asked about his cracking sprint finish and efficient way of getting his hand where it needed to be first, Meyer said: "I know that Cleri wasn't taking a straight path and he was trying to cut me off when I tired to swim on a course to the finish. I felt that I am a better sprinter, and I knew that if we were even or if we were stopped dead in the water with 50 meters to go, I was sure i could get to the touch pad first. "
Italy the FINA Championship Trophy for teams, on 116 points, just 5 ahead of the USA in a tight tusssle. Russia took third on 62 points.
As Roberval waves goodbye to the open water world, the lessons of the past week are, once more, that honesty and clarity are the keys to a smoother future for all FINA sports, the suits issue having marred events because the list of approved suits was not updated in timely fashion and because - as Thomas Lurz, 5km champion for Germany pointed out to the German media and SwimNews - when swimmers called the FINA office in May to ask if zippers could be worn, they were told "yes". Wrong. Zippers are banned under FINA rules that emerged from an overwhelming voted by the ruling Congress last year in Rome.
The point about rules is that lines are drawn and people know where they stand, and in sport that is done so that all may compete on an even keel as far as race conditions are concerned. Standardisation - the foundation on which FINA was built back in 1908.
