Van Dijk Takes Second Open Water Gold at Euro Champs in a Photo Finish

BERLIN, July 28. HOLLAND'S Edith van Dijk won her second gold medal of the European swimming championships on Potsdam's Lake Templin, taking the women's 10km open water race today. But unlike her victory in the 25K last Thursday, this time the 29 year-old was pressed all the way, finally prevailing in what many observers called one of the closest 10K races ever swum.

Van Dijk was in a leading pack of eight swimmers for 9,400 meters before she broke away and went on to win in two hours six minutes 20.30 seconds. Germanys Angela Maurer wand Britta Kamrau battled for the silver, with maurer edging her compatriot by 2-tenths of a second, 2:06:22.50 to 2:06.22.70.

"It was a very dirty race," said Van Dijk. "I could see a lot of fighting and yellow cards behind me. I was kicked in the face three times while trying to have a drink."

Less than three seconds separated the two five finishers, with only nine seconds separating the top eight.

The men's race was less dramatic, with the Russians dominating. Vladimir Diattchine won in 1:55:27 with Evgueni Koshkarov taking silver, two seconds behind. Italy's Luca Baldini, who won the 5K yesterday, was third in 1:56.04.

Germany's Thomas Lurz, who set the pace for the first 7,000 meters faded badly and wound up fourth.

RESULTS

Men's 10km open water

1. Vladimir Diattchine (RUS) 1:55:27
2. Evgueni Koshkarov (RUS) 1:55:29
3. Luca Baldini (ITA) 1:56:04
4. Thomas Lurz (GER) 1:56:31
5. Fabio Venturini (ITA) 1:56:34
6. David Meca (ESP) 1:56:38
7. Stephane Gomez (FRA) 1:56:57
8. Jordi Jou (ESP) 1:57:36
9. Christian Hansmann (GER) 1:58:03
10. Levent Nagy-Pal (HUN) 1:58:05

Women's 10km open water

1. Edith van Dijk (NED) 2:06:20.30
2. Angela Maurer (GER) 2:06.22.50
3. Britta Kamrau (GER) 2:06.22.70
4. Ekaterina Silverstova (RUS) 2:06.23.00
5. Edda van der Weijden (NED) 2:06.23.20
6. Yvetta Hlavacova (CZE) 2:06.27.10
7. Stefanie Biller (GER) 2:06.27.10
8. Silva Guerra (ESP) 2:06.29.40
9. Claudia Barsi (HUN) 2:06.32.30
10. Ivanka Moralieva (BUL) 2:06.34.20

Synchronized swimming: final team standings

1. Russia 99.000 points
2. Spain 98.100
3. Italy 96.400
4. Greece 94.800
5. Ukraine 94.300
6. France 93.300
7. Switzerland 91.700
8. Belarus 88.700
9. Czech Republic 87.500
10. Germany 86.300

Women's 3-metre springboard synchronized diving final

1. Germany (Ditte Kotzian/Conny Schmalfuss) 312.00
2. Russia (Vera Ilyina/Yulia Pakhalina) 308.76
3. Italy (Tania Cagnotto/Maria Marconi) 268.98
4. Greece (S.Koutsopetrou/D. Georgatou) 245.76
5. Spain (Dolores de Ibarra/L. Eizaguirre) 239.46
6. Britain (Tandi Gerrard/Rosie Whiting) 228.33
7. Netherlands (Amanda v Gennip/Bianca v Os)223.56

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