Valerio Cleri, Poliana Okimoto Claim Shantou Stop of FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup Series

By Neville Smith

SHANTOU, China, September 23. FAST times were the order of the day at the FINA 10K Marathon Swimming World Cup event that took place in the fast flowing XinJin River in Shantou, China on Sunday morning. Italy's Valerio Cleri walked away with the men's title, while Brazil's Poliana Okimoto took home the women's gold medal.

The inclement weather that greeted the athletes on arrival at the venue soon cleared up and matters got underway in warm humid conditions. The water temperature was a comfortable 78 degrees Fahrenheit (26 Celsius).

From the onset it was clear that the men's race was going to be fast and tactical and the spectators that had gathered along the route were entertained by some of the world's leading exponents of the Olympic program's newest swimming discipline.

With 2,000 meters to go to the finish pontoon, the pace lifted significantly and as a result, the pack which had been tightly bunched started to spread as the Italian duo of Valerio Cleri and Simone Ercoli surged. Working hard to maintain the increasing pace, the chasing pack was led by Greek speedster Spyridon Gianniotis, with the Netherlands' Maartin van der Weijden, Belgium's Brian Ryckeman and Great Britain's Alan Bircher lurking.

Fifty meters to the finish pontoon, it appeared that an Italian 1–2 was in the cards, but Gianniotis and Company had other ideas as the chasing pack again surged and hunted down the leaders. While Cleri (1:43:19.56) had done enough to hold off the chasing pack, Gianniotis (1:43:20.65) was just too strong as he passed a tiring Ercoli (1:43:22.07) to claim the silver medal.

Van der Weijden (1:43:24.41) and Ryckeman (1:43:25.22) matched each other stroke for stroke, but it was the Dutch stalwart who reached up to touch out the Flemish ace.

Bircher (1:43:30.36) headed home the detached pack which included Brazilian Allan Do Carmo (1:43:30.73), Russian world champion Vladimir Dyatchin (1:43:36.95), his compatriot Evengy Drattsev (1:43:33.07), Mexican Ivan Lopez (1:43:36.95) and the promising South African Shaun Dias (1:43:38.80).

With the top 14 swimmers all finishing within a minute of each other, this certainly augers well for the inaugural Olympic Marathon Swimming event that will be held at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The event is sure to capture the imagination of spectators and television viewers world wide.

The women's event got underway 10 minutes after the men's event and again the race turned out to be fast and tactical.

It was 2006 IPC world open water swimming champion, South African Natalie du Toit who headed the pack for the majority of the race, just as her compatriot Chad Ho had done in the men's event. Great Britain's Keri Anne Payne, Germany's Angela Maurer, Germany's Britta Kamrau-Corestein, Brazil's Poliana Okimoto, Russia's Olesya Shalygina and the Italian duo of Martina Grimaldi and Alice Franco were content to bide their time and let the powerful South African break the water ahead of them.

With less than 1,000 meters to the finish pontoon, Okimoto surged and Payne, Maurer and Kamrau-Corestein responded and took the challenge to du Toit. With 400 meters to go it appeared that it was anyone's race, and then disaster struck for the paraplegic champion du Toit when she paused to recover her cap that was slipping off her head.

Okimoto seized the moment and lifted the pace with a determined Payne and the German duo working hard to haul her in, but the Brazilian had the advantage and maintained this through to the finish pontoon to post a 1:47:49.49 ahead of the fast finishing Kamrau-Corestein (1:47:51.93).

Maurer (1:47:53.10) edged Payne (1:47:53.42) to claim the minor placing while Grimaldi (1:48:03.83) headed the chasing pack which consisted of Shalygina (1:48:05.00), Franco (1:48:05.90) and the brave du Toit (1:48:09.72).

As in the men's event, the women's race was a tight contest with the top 10 finishers all completing the course within a minute of the winner. With 40 athletes from 15 countries completing the race, the event organizers should be pleased with the support that they have received from the international open water swimming community.

The FINA 10K MSWC moves onto Hong Kong next weekend (Sept. 30), when the action resumes in the Repulse Bay. Then it's onto Singapore (Oct 7) for the penultimate event in the current series. The series concludes in Cancun, Mexico on Oct. 20.

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