World Championships: Italy Tops Hungary, Australia for Open Water Mixed Relay Gold

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Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri and Domenico Acerenza -- Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

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World Championships: Italy Tops Hungary, Australia for Open Water Mixed Relay Gold

The Fukuoka World Championships got off to a less-than-ideal start for Gregorio Paltrinieri. The 28-year-old Italian distance star, who captured world titles in the 1500 freestyle and 10K open water swim last year, ended up fourth in this year’s 10K, more than 36 seconds behind winner Florian Wellbrock. The 10K was a double dose of disappointment for Team Italy as Domenico Acerenza ended up fifth, so both swimmers were one spot away from automatic Olympic qualification.

But two days later in the 5K, Paltrinieri won silver and Acerenza bronze (behind Wellbrock), and Italy had momentum going into the mixed 6-kilometer open water relay, the final event of open water swimming in Fukuoka. And in that relay, Italy secured gold. Handling the third leg of the race, Acerenza moved his team up from eighth place to second, just seven seconds behind Australia’s lead, and on the final lap, Paltrinieri took over. He faced a challenge from Hungary’s David Betlehem, who surged into a small lead in the middle of the anchor leg, but Paltrinieri reasserted himself to win gold by 4.1 seconds.

The Italian team, with Barbara Pozzobon and Ginerva Taddeucci handling the women’s legs before Acerenza and Paltrinieri took over, finished in a time of 1:10:31.2, while Hungary’s Bettina Fabian, Anna Olasz, Kristof Rasovszky and Betlehem finished with a silver medal in 1:10:35.3.

Italy has now won a medal in the team event in four consecutive World Championships, but this is the group’s first gold. Taddeucci, Acerenza and Paltrinieri were all part of a bronze-medal effort last year. The medal was the first gold at the World Championships for three of the four swimmers on the relay, but Paltrinieri won his sixth world title, having previously captured at least one win between the 800 free, 1500 free and 10K at each of the last four World Championships.

Australia, the leader with one lap to go after strong legs by 10K silver medalist Chelsea Gubecka, Moesha Johnson and Nicholas Sloman, ended up securing bronze in 1:11:26.7. Yes, Kyle Lee surrendered the lead on the last leg to the charging Paltrinieri and Betlehem, but he touched out Germany for the last spot on the podium by just two tenths.

Germany was the pre-race favorite after winning the world title last year and entering having swept all four previous open water events in Fukuoka. But men’s 5K and 10K gold medalist Florian Wellbrock opted out of the relay to focus on the 800 and 1500 free in the pool next week. In his absence, the team of Lea Boy, women’s 5K and 10K gold medalist Leonie Beck, Rob Muffels and men’s 10K bronze medalist Oliver Klemet ended up fourth.

France placed fifth in 1:11:40.6, followed by Brazil (1:13:07.4), Japan (1:13:38.4), Spain (1:13:41.8), the United States (1:13:58.6) and Canada (1:14:11.8).

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