Dutchwoman Sharon van Rouwendaal wins her second gold after Rio 2016
MADRID, 8 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Spanish swimmers Angela Martinez and Maria de Valdes finished tenth and seventeenth respectively in the 10-kilometre open water event at the Paris Olympic Games, where Dutch swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal, gold medallist in Rio 2016, was once again crowned Olympic champion.
The current and uncertainty over the quality of the water in the Seine greeted the participants in the marathon swimming event, in which Van Rouwendaal was the first to complete the six laps planned for the course of the Parisian river (2:03:34.2). The Australian Moesha Johnson took the silver (2:03:39.7) and the Italian Ginevra Taddeucci, the bronze (2:03:42.8).
The swimmers marched in a row along the right bank of the river, trying to avoid the currents as much as possible, and it was not until the halfway point that the distances began to be marked. Johnson (19:02.2) was the first to pass the buoy that marked the start of the second lap, with María de Valdés, world runner-up in the distance, and Ángela Martínez fifteenth (19:51.0) and nineteenth (19:58.3), respectively.
While the oceanic and Van Rouwendaal (40:18.6) took turns at the front, the Spanish women settled into their positions. The Malaga native completed the second lap fourteenth (40:39.9) and the third thirteenth (1:02:10.2) and Martínez, nineteenth (40:51.4) and sixteenth (1:02:15.2), both sharing the chasing group.
After lap 4, Johnson, Van Rouwendaal and Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci went off alone to claim gold, leaving Tokyo 2020 champion Ana Marcela Cunha of Brazil behind. María de Valdés swam in the second group, fourteenth (1:23:27.4), alongside Ángela Martínez, nineteenth (1:23:39.0).
Before the final lap, the Andalusian, who fell to seventeenth place (1:44:57.9), and the Alicante native, fifteenth (1:44:49.6), were already more than two minutes behind the leaders. Finally, Martínez closed the ‘Top 10’ (2:06:15.3) and De Valdés, exhausted on the last lap, finished seventeenth (2:07:02.4).