Morning Splash: No Rest for the Wilimovsky

Photo Courtesy: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Editorial Coverage Sponsored By FINIS

By David Rieder

Last July, Jordan Wilimovsky won gold in the open water 10k race at the World Championships in Kazan. He did more than enough to book his spot in the race at the Olympics in Rio—needing just a top-ten finish, he ended up stopping the clock more than 12 seconds ahead of anyone else.

Two weeks later, Wilimovsky won the U.S. National title in the 1500 free in 14:57.05, which ranked him second among Americans for 2015. On the table, then, would be Wilimovsky’s chance to be the first American to qualify to swim both pool and open water in the same Olympics.

Of course, the most successful open water swimmers have excellent pool backgrounds—both Olympic gold medalists in the 10k from 2012 (Eva Risztov and Ous Mellouli) had previously won medals in pool events, and Monday’s winner of the women’s 10k, the Netherlands’ Sharon van Rouwendaal, has twice finished on the podium for pool events at the World Championships.

Wilimovsky did indeed book his chance to add the 1500 to his program for the Rio Games. He swam under 14:50 for the first time in finishing second to Connor Jaeger at Olympic Trials, and then he swam another in the prelims of the Olympic Games when he out-raced Australia’s Mack Horton and Italy’s Gabriele Detti in a frantic final 25 meters to win their heat in 14:48.23.

In the final, Wilimovsky pulled ahead of medal favorites such as Horton and looked like for much of the race that he might take a bronze medal—behind Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri and Jaeger—before Detti ran him down with a blistering final 400 meters. Still, Wilimovsky’s 14:45.03 was a personal best.

“I just went out for it at the start,” Wilimovsky said. “I was just stoked to make the final in the first place, so I just figured I’d go for it and leave it all in the pool—if I did, I die. I saw him coming the last 300, and I was like, ‘Oh no, I’m hurting—I went out really hard!’

“It would have been cool to get a bronze, but consolation prize seeing Jaeger get up there, and getting under 14:40 was sick.”

That all happened at 10:30 p.m. local time Saturday night. At 9 a.m. this morning—just 58.5 hours later—Wilimovsky is back in the water, but this time, it’s not in front of 14,000 fans at a packed Olympic Aquatic Stadium.

He’ll be swimming in the Atlantic Ocean off the renowned Copacabana Beach.

In the 1500, Wilimovsky was an underdog who significantly overachieved just to finish fourth. Today, he’s a favorite for gold.

Before Wilimovsky, it had been a decade since an American man had won a World title in the 10k—Chip Peterson had been the last in 2005. Now, he attempts to become the first American man to ever win an open water medal. Haley Anderson won one for the women in 2012 when she picked up a silver medal, just four tenths of a second behind Risztov.

Wilimovsky’s form in the 1500 this week should be a positive sign for his 10k since he devoted equal time to his two races in the lead-up at the U.S. team’s training camp.

“We’re pretty fortunate to have guys that can pretty much swim anything,” Wilimovsky said. “Some days I’d hop in with Connor [Jaeger], Katie [Ledecky] and Leah [Smith] and do some 1500 work and maybe even 400 pace with work them, and some days I go on my own, go a little longer and focus on the 10k.”

In this 10k, Wilimovsky will have a familiar face on the course in fellow American Sean Ryan, who finished fourth last summer in Kazan, as well as the Netherlands’ Ferry Weertman, Canada’s Richard Weinberger and South Africa’s Chad Ho.

And then there’s Mellouli, who did not look great in the mile in finishing 21st in 15:07.78. But Mellouli’s focus had been squarely on open water, and a medal in this morning’s race would make it two pool medals and two open water medals in Mellouli’s stellar career.

Remember that that places throughout the race mean very little, especially early on as the athletes settle into their pace. For instance, in Monday’s women’s race, Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha led at the halfway point but ended up falling to 11th place at the finish—though she moved up to tenth after a DQ.

Wilimovsky will likely be avoiding his go-for-broke strategy that left him gassed at the end of his mile. It goes without saying, but the 10k is a little bit longer—given the absence of turns, almost seven times longer.

But a man with 1500 speed—relatively speaking, of course—as well as solid endurance, big-race experience and high-riding confidence is dangerous here.

The Americans had an incredibly successful week in the pool, and don’t be surprised if Wilimovsky adds one more medal to the tally later this morning.

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