On Saturday the third leg of the FINA/HOSA 10KM Marathon Swimming World Cup took place Balatonfüred, Hungary with two Italians taking the top spot on the podium.
In the women’s race, Rachele Bruni won in a time of 1:59:58.01, topping Haley Anderson of the United States (2:00:09.81) and Isabelle Harle of Germany (2:00:11.54). In her post-race interview Bruni discusses how she focused on conserving energy throughout the race in order to be able to finish strong. She also notes this is a big confidence boost for her heading into Rio, but she still recognizes that it’s just a step towards her ultimate goal at the Olympics. Anderson also talked about how the race is good preparation for Rio, and that she focused on different race strategies. Harle spoke about her pre-race nerves and that the race was basically a test event for the Olympics.
Watch all three speak below (courtesy of the FINA Youtube page):
In a much closer finish Simone Ruffini emerged as the winner on the men’s side in 1:50:25.04 ahead of Andreas Waschburger of Germany (1:50:26.79) and Richard Weinberger of Canada (1:50:27.17). Ruffini talks about how happy he is with the race overall, especially his ability to finish strong. Waschburger mentions how he just qualified for the Olympics last week, and was happy he achieved his goal of a top-3 finish. Weinberger, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in this event, was very happy with the execution of his race plan: easy as possible throughout and then sprint at the end. He also mentions how he struggled to maintain his training after 2012, but feels he’s coming around at the right time four years later.
Watch all three speak below (courtesy of the FINA Youtube page):
For more information on the race click here.
The 4th stop of the World Cup will take place in Lac St.Jean, Quebec on July 28th.