MADRID, 4 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish swimmer Guillem Pujol has finished in 24th position in the 10 kilometer open water event of the Swimming World Championships, which are being held in Doha, a result that leaves him without an Olympic place in the distance for Paris 2024.
The Catalan started far away (32nd), but rose to twenty-fifth place in the second lap, a position he could not maintain in the third, where he fell to 36th, 16 seconds behind a stretched leading group. In the second change, the one from Blanes missed the Olympic options because he neither entered by quota nor by continent (first European).
Finally, he finished twenty-fourth, 1:34 behind the winner of the event and new world champion, the Hungarian Kristof Rasovszky (1:48:21.20), who topped a podium completed by the Frenchman Marc-Antoine Olivier and the British Hector Pardoe. Pujol will also compete in the 5 kilometer test.
“I'm a little sad, but happy to have given it my all. I arrived exhausted, and I value that as giving my best, although it wasn't enough. I'm quite happy with the race, there are things to improve, but I “I have noticed swimming well, strong, and it is a shame not to have been able to achieve the goal. Now it is time to recover for the 5 kilometers,” Pujol said after the test.
Regarding the race, he explained that he crashed “on the fourth or fifth lap for the first time.” “There I had to make a pretty big effort to get involved with the group. I managed to connect, but it was the last cut and I stayed, there were the places,” she analyzed. “It was difficult for me to finish the last lap, in the last change of pace I was a little lacking,” he concluded.