FINA Open Water World Champs: Meca, Van Dyk Take the 10K

HONOLULU, November 2. BATTLING shifting tides and swimming under threatening, grey skies, Spain's David Meca and Holland's Edith van Dyk won the men's and women's 10K competition, respectively, today at the First FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in Honolulu. Meca was the silver medalist in the men's 5K on Tuesday.
Germany won the gold in the three-person 10K team competition, just ahead of Russia and the USA, as only 36 seconds separated the top three teams.

The men's and women's races could not have been more different. The men's race was tightly contested until the final 200 meters, when the veteran Meca pulled away to win by less than four seconds, as the top 10 swimmers all finished within 7 seconds of each other.

Meca won in one hour, 57 minutes, 10.50 seconds. Italy's Samuele Pampana finished second but was disqualified for swimming outside the designated course. Bulgaria's Petar Stoychev took the silver at 1:57:14.44.Russia's Evgueni Bezroutchenko, who won the 5K event on Tuesday, was third in 1:57:15.02.

Americans Ben Hanley (Santa Cruz, Calif.) and Matt Martin (Mission Viejo, Calif.) were sixth (1:57:16.62) and 11th (1:57:30.77), respectively.

"It was the first 10K race for both me and Matt," Hanley said. "We're both pool swimmers and we get speed from that training, but we need the open water experience to know how to handle the physical stuff, like the elbows in your face and the pushing. When you're in a big pack like that at the end, it's hard to know the line to take. We were up against guys with a lot more experience who know how to use that."

The women's race saw Van Dyk blow away the field, as her time of 2:06:44.44 was almost a minute faster than the silver medalist, Melissa Pasquali of Italy. Germany's Peggy Buchse, who won the 5K on Tuesday, was third, another 40 seconds back.

Like the men's event, the women's race also saw some disqualifications for the same misdirection that knocked Pampana out of the men's race. The USA's Megan Ryther (San Antonio, Texas) was one of the swimmers who was in the group that went the wrong way around a buoy near the end of the race. U.S. teammate Dawn Heckman (Latrobe, Pa.) also followed the group, but after hearing the shouting from the officials' boat, she, along with a few others, turned around and went back to the correct side of the buoy. She finished seventh in the race at 2:08:52.42.

"I knew the leader of the pack was going the wrong way, but I was stupid and followed anyway," Heckman said. "I should have went with my gut instinct because I knew they were going the wrong way, but I wasn't sure what the ruling would be. I didn't know if they would disqualify anyone if we all went the wrong way, but I heard the whistling and yelling and decided to turn around. I didn't want to swim an entire 10K race and then not have it count."

FIRST FINA WORLD OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS
Honolulu, Hawaii
November 2, 2000
10K RESULTS

MEN
1. David Meca, ESP 1:57:10.50
2. Petar Stoychev, BUL 1:57:14.44
3. Evgueni Bezroutchenko, RUS 1:57:15.02
4. Cristof Wandratsch, GER 1:57:15.46
5. Emmanuel Poissier, FRA 1:57:16.08
6. Ben Hanley, USA(Santa Cruz, Calif.) 1:57:16.62
7. Vladimir Diatchen, RUS 1:57:17.12
8. Carl Gordon, NZL 1:57:17.24
9. Maarten van der Weijden, NED 1:57:17.40
10. Scott Sheperd, NZL 1:57:17.86
11. Matt Martin, USA (M. Viejo, Calif.) 1:57:30.77
12. Andres Maurer, GER 1:57:33.59
13. Simone Ercoli, ITA 1:57:45.47
14. Mark Saliba, AUS 1:58:12.84
15. Miodrag Vasic, YUG 1:58:13.80
16. Guilherme Bier, BRA 1:58:14.69
17. Adrian Andermatt, SUI 2:00:55.39
18. Tim Cowan, CAN 2:01:22.34
19. Carlos Pavo, BRA 2:01:23.39
20. David Bilodeau, CAN 2:01:24.02
21. Leigh Bool, AUS 2:03:19.92
22. Gonzalo Diaz Miret, ARG 2:13:10.22
23. Balzas Cseldnyi, HUN 2:13:10.60
24. Marton Toszegi, HUN 2:17:11.19
25. Mihajlo Ristorski, MKD 2:17:33.44
26. Rafael Perez, ARG 2:19:29.63
27. Patel Chintan, IND 2:45:57.24
28. Bhargava Prateek, IND 3:05:22.56

WOMEN
1. Edith van Dyk, NED 2:06:44.44
2. Melissa Pasquali, ITA 2:07:38.85
3. Peggy Busche, GER 2:08:14.59
4. Brooke Townsend, AUS 2:08:16.11
5. Etta van der Weijden, NED 2:08:47.52
6. Paula Wood, GBR 2:08:51.85
7. Dawn Heckman, USA (Latrobe, Pa.) 2:08:52.24
8. Irena Abyssova, RUS 2:09:01.81
9. Trudee Hutchinson, AUS 2:09:07.11
10. Karley Stutzel, CAN 2:09:40.38
11. Jana Pechanova, CZE 2:11:14.01
12. Pilar Geijo, ARG 2:11:15.52
13. Eszter Balazs, HUN 2:12.28.92
14. Jennifer Coombs, CAN 2:21:07.43
15. Biljana Cokovic, MDK 2:44:09.92

TEAM
1. Germany 6:03:03.64
2. Russia 6:03:33.95
3. USA 6:03:39.81
4. Australia 6:09:48.87
5. Netherlands 6:12:49.36
6. Canada 6:32:10.15
7. Hungary 6:42:50.71
8. Argentina 6:43:55.37

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