Italy won the inaugural mixed 4×1500 open water President’s Relay as it kicked off the FINA Aquatics Festival<\/strong> in Abu Dhabi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Fina Aquatics Festival Mixed Relay Results\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Ten teams competed in Yas Bay with eight led off by women although Kazakhstan and Ukraine had men on the first leg.<\/p>\n
It marked the first time an open water event was paired with the World Short-Course Championships and also the inaugural 6km race, the objective being to attract 1500m pool swimmers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Ukraine’s Igor Chervynskiy<\/strong> led at the end of the first leg in 17:16.7 followed by Hungarian woman Raka Rohacz<\/strong> and Portugal’s Mafalda Rosa<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n
Hector Pardoe<\/strong> guided Britain into the lead at halfway ahead of Bruce Almeida<\/strong> of Brazil followed by China and Portugal.<\/p>\n
However, Domenico Acerenza<\/strong> came through the field to guide Italy into the lead on the third leg with the European team relay champion in a duel with David Betlehem<\/strong> of Hungary<\/span><\/p>\n
Gregorio Paltrinieri<\/strong>, the Olympic 10k bronze medallist, led going into the final 1500m with Kristof Rasovszky<\/strong>, who was second in Tokyo, on his heels.<\/span><\/p>\n
Paltrinieri’s split of 15:49.1 was the fastest of the teams as he went 3.2 seconds faster than Rasovszky who doggedly challenged him in the final lap.<\/p>\n
The Italian\u00a0 touched first in 1:06.49.1, 2.6secs ahead of Hungary (1:06.51.7) with Germany almost 40secs adrift of the winners in 1:07.29.<\/p>\n
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OPEN WATER MIXED 4x1500m Relay results \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n
\ud83e\udd47ITALY\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9
\ud83e\udd48 HUNGARY \ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddfa
\ud83e\udd49 GERMANY\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea<\/p>\n
Full results at https:\/\/t.co\/wfMwlwJm7R<\/a>#openwater<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/qH1dRMl5aY<\/a><\/p>\n
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) December 15, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n