2018 Australian Open Water Championships
- January 26th-January 28th, 2018
- Brighton Beach, Adelaide, Australia
- Meet Site
- Live Results
Day one of the 2018 Australian Open Water Championships featured both the open men’s and women’s 10K.
In the men’s race, 20-year-old Nick Sloman outlasted 29-year-old Simon Huitenga, winning the race 1:53:04.07 to 1:53:05.07. Despite trailing for most the race, Sloman opted out of feeding at the 7.5km mark and made his move at the last buoy with 1.25km to go.
“I knew as soon as I went for it that there was no looking back, there was no stopping until the end and that’s what I did,” Sloman said after his race.
In third was Hungary’s Mark Papp in 1:53.08.01.
19-year-old Chelsea Gubecka won the women’s race in 2:01:20.01, just ahead of 24-year-old Kareena Lee, who finished in 2:02.53. Gubecka — who already had four national 10K titles under her belt before Friday’s and was a 2016 Olympian — was sitting around 4th at the halfway point, decided to try to break away, and was successful in holding on to the lead.
Mackenzie Brazier, at only 16 years old, took third in 2:03:13.00.
On her race strategy Gubecka said: “This is the year to take risks. This is the year to test myself, and I decided to test myself — make a little spurt for about 400 or 500 to see if I could break away, and I guess that happened and I could just keep growing that distance.”
Nick Sloman Post-Race Interview:
Chelsea Gubecka Post-Race Interview:
The racing will continue with the open 5K on Saturday morning.
Amazing finish- watched the race from a kayak around the course. Was nice it was held at the end of my new street in Adelaide!
Brighton and Somerton…. simply awesome
Congrats Sage, Matt, Chelsea and Hoots.