CHUN'AN, China, Sept. 29 (Xinhua) -- Rio Olympic champion Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands and Arianna Bridi of Italy snatched titles at the ninth and last stop of the 2019 FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series here in Chun'an county of China's Zhejiang province on Sunday.
With a temperature of 30 degree centigrade and water temperature around 27 C, a total of 27 swimmers competed in the men's 10km race as the Dutchman Weertman touched the pad first in a time of one hour 56 minutes 0.13 seconds. Furlan Matteo of Italy came second in 1:56:05.30 and Kirill Abrosimov of Russia third 1:56:12.24.
Kristof Rasovszky of Hungary finished fifth in 1:56:12.91 but kept dominance on the total rankings after all nine legs of the World Series.
"It is just a start of my season as I took vacation after the Gwangju Worlds Championships and returned training one month and a half ago. It was a sort of training and I could swim like this. This was amazing. I was broken away at the end of the second lap but managed to pick up the pace in the fifth lap. I was really happy to finish well," said the 27-year-old Weertman.
The women's race was more fierce as the top four swimmers fought all the way through the 10km and the gap was within 1.5 seconds. Italian Arianna Bridi took the victory with a strong finish in 2:04:05.44 while Brazil star Ana Marcela Cunha had to concede to a silver medal by one stroke of 0.33 second behind. Newly-crowned world champion Xin Xin came third in 2:04:06.69. Rachele Bruni of Italy was the fourth in 2:04:06.93 and stayed on top of the total rankings.
"I tried a lot of times yesterday practicing the last finish. I tried to use more legs during the last 20 meters and focused on the last three strokes. It was my third victory at the World Series," Bridi said.
Local favorite Xin, who became the first Chinese to win a gold medal in open water at the World Championships in Gwangju this year, was happy with her bronze medal.
"It was my fourth time to swim here in Qiandao Lake and I like the place very much. I took a six-week vacation after the Gwangju worlds and only returned training for one month. I was far behind my peak form, so I was happy with the result today," Xin said.
Chun'an leg was the last meet of the 2019 circuit of the FINA/CNSG Marathon Swim World Series after eight previous legs.
