Sharon Van Rouwendaal, Kristof Rasovszky Win European Championship in Open Water 5K

VAN ROUWENDAAL Sharon NED Gold Medal 5km Women Glasgow 08/08/2018 Open Water Swimming Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park LEN European Aquatics Championships 2018 European Championships 2018 Photo Andrea Staccioli /Deepbluemedia /Insidefoto

Sharon Van Rouwendaal. Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

The open water races at the European Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, began Wednesday with the Women’s 5K at Loch Lomond.

Sharon Van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands completed a strong race and held off the competition by 16 seconds to win the championship in 56:01.

Germany’s Leonie Antonia Beck took second at 56:17, followed by Italy’s Rachel Bruni (56.49) and Arianna Bridi (56:58).

Greece’s Kalliopi Araouzou finished fifth in 57:17, followed by Czech Republic’s Alena Benesova (57:21), Italy’s Martina De Memme (57:24) and France’s Lara Grangeon (57:25).

The Men’s 5K was also Wednesday at Loch Lomond.

Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky held off France’s Axel Reymond and Logan Fontaine in an incredible 1-2-3 finish.

Rasovszky won the race in 52:38, followed by Reymond at 52:41 and Fontaine at 52:44.

Germany’s Rob Muffels was fourth at 52:55, followed by Italy’s Marcello Guidi (52:56), Pepijn Maxime Smits (52:59) of the Netherlands, France’s Marc-Antoine Olivier (52:06) and Russia’s Denis Adeev (53:09).

The 10K races are Thursday.

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