Keller Takes Silver at World Open Water Champs

HONOLULU, October 31. GERMANY'S Peggy Buchse and Russia's Evgueni Bezroutchenko were the winners of the 5 kilometer race, the first event at the First FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships, held today at Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Buchse won the women's event in one hour, two minutes, 36 seconds, as Bezroutchenko took the men's race in 59 minutes, 18 seconds.

Both races were extremely close. Buchse finished four seconds ahead of fifteen year-old Kalyn Keller, of Phoenix, Arizona, who took the silver medal to become the first-ever US medalist at the World Open Water Championships. Italy's Viola Valli was third, one second behind Keller.

Only eight seconds separated Keller, in second place, from Australia's Hayley Lewis, who placed 11th.

"It wasn't as rough as I thought it would be," Keller said. "We were in a big pack for a long way and I thought it would split up sooner. About halfway through, I was leading the second pack and the lead pack was about 25 meters ahead, which was hard because I didn't expect to have to make up that much distance. It was hard to hold back and not make a move early, but I knew I had to wait. When I saw the splitter buoy, I thought I'd better get going. We had practiced swimming through the channel so I knew I had to stay on the side to have the advantage even though it looks like the middle would be better. I really wanted to do well. I knew I could be top three and I'm really happy with how I did."

The Keller family has made quite an impact on the swimming world in recent weeks. Kalyn's older brother, Klete, won a silver (4 x 200 freestyle relay) and bronze medal (400 freestyle) at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney last month.

In the men's race, Bezroutchenko edged Spain's David Meca by one second, with Italy's Luca Baldini third
in the same time was Meca.

American team captain John Flanagan, who finished eighth, commented: "The pack split and ended up in a straight line and I found myself in the back of it. We had a strong current with us on the way back so the yellow buoy came up quicker than I thought it would and I waited too long to make my move. I wanted to cut in to the right more, but I had two guys blocking me, so I got stuck in the middle of the channel where I didn't want to be."

The FINA World Open Water Championships continue on Thursday in Honolulu with competition in the men's and women's 10K distance.

Results are below. See KALYN KELLER'S online diary for her personal account of her race.

RESULTS

FINA WORLD OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS – 5K
HONOLULU, HAWAII
October 31, 2000

WOMEN
1. Peggy Bucshe, GER, 1:02:36
2. Kalyn Keller, USA (Phoenix, Ariz.), 1:02:40
3. Viola Valli, ITA, 1:02:41
4. Edith van Dyk, NED, 1:02:42
5. Valeria Casprini, ITA, 1:02:43
6. Britta Kamrau, GER, 1:02:44
7. Irena Abyssova, RUS, 1:02:45
8. Annie Stein, USA (Boulder, Colo.), 1:02:46
9. Olga Gousseva, RUS, 1:02:47
10.Brooke Townsend, AUS, 1:02:48
11. Hayley Lewis, AUS, 1:02:48
12. Karley Stutzel, CAN, 1:03:15
13. Etta van der Weijden, NED, 1:03:30
14. Jana Pechanova, CZE, 1:04:33
15. Audry Boitte, FRA, 1:04:34
16. Paula Wood, GBR, 1:04:35
17, Marieka Theunissen, RSA, 1:04:36
18. Viviane Motti, BRA, 1:04:37
19. Cindy Persoons, BEL, 1:04:38
20. Celeste Punet, ARG, 1:04:50
21. Jenny Fuentes, VEN, 1:05:03
22. Pilar Geijo, ARG, 1:07:10
23. Jennifer Coombs, CAN, 1:14:00
24. Kaitlyn Elphinstone, CAY, 1:16:46

MEN
1. Evgueni Bezroutchenko, RUS, 59:18
2. David Meca, ESP, 59:19
3. Luca Baldini, ITA, 59.19
4. Fabio Venturini, ITA, 59:20
5. Cristof Wandratsch, GER, 59:22
6. Alexi Akatiev, RUS, 59:29
7. Ky Hurst, AUS, 59:30
8. John Flanagan, USA (Honolulu, Hawaii), 59:40
9. Stephane Lecat, FRA, 59:41
10. Marrten van der Wiejden, NED, 59:46
11. Ben Hoffman, GER, 59:47
12. Petar Stoychev, BUL, 59:50
13. Steven McLeod, USA (Mission Viejo, Calif.), 59:51
14. Emmanuel Poissier, FRA, 59:52
15. Stephen Penfold, AUS, 59:53
16. Carl Gordon, NZL, 59:54
17. Adrian Andermatt, SUI, 59:55
18. Miodrag Vasic, YUG, 1:00:18
19. Pavel Srb, CZE, 1:00:19
20. Kurt Niehaus, CRC, 1:00:20
21. Gonzalo Diaz Miret, ARG, 1:00:31
22. Hiroki Hikida, JPN, 1:00:52
23. Tim Cowan, CAN, 1:01:12
24. Greg Orphanides, GBR, 1:01:13
25. Scott Sheperd, NZL, 1:01:14
26. Mathew Kaiser, GBR, 1:01:49
27. Carl Probert, FIJ, 1:01:57
28. Akos Gyorffy, HUN, 1:01:58
29. Shaune Fraser, CAY, 1:03.43
30. Adolfo Rivadeniera, ECU, 1:04:23
31. Seung Gin Lee, NMA, 1:13.06

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