KAZAN: Haley Anderson of the US defended her title in the 5-kilometre open water race to claim the first medal of the FINA World Swimming Championships on Saturday.

She surged to the lead in the closing meters of the race in the choppy, brownish waters of the Kazanka River, hitting the touchpad in 58 minutes, 48.4 seconds.

Chad Ho of South Africa won the men’s 5k in 55:17.6, the same time as silver medalist Rob Muffels of Germany. Matteo Furlan of Italy earned bronze in 55:20.0.

“I couldn’t ask for a better race,” Ho said.

Anderson, the 2012 Olympic 5k silver medallist from Granite Bay, California, used the shorter race as a tuneup for the 10k next week.

“I just wanted to be able to get on the course, feel it out,” she said.

“My strategy was just to stay toward the front because it’s a short race. You got to kind of stay up there if you want to be able to make your move toward the end.”

Anderson’s medal was the 500th won by the US in the 16-year history of the world championships.

Kalliopi Araouzou of Greece took silver in 58:49.8, while Finnia Wunram of Germany earned bronze in 58:51.0.

Sharon Van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands led most of the way on the wind-whipped rectangular course, but settled for fourth in 58:55.1 — more than 7 seconds behind Anderson.

The water temperature was 68 degrees (20 Celsius) while the air temperature was 73 degrees (23 Celsius) for the women’s race at the course near the Kazan Kremlin, built at the behest of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century.

“The water wasn’t too cold, which was nice,” Anderson said.

Haley Anderson of the US celebrates after winning gold medal in the women’s 5km open water swim competition.—AP

“A little choppy, but it’s choppy for everybody, it’s cold for everybody. It was nice out there.”

Anderson won the 5k at worlds two years ago in Barcelona, Spain, where the water temperature in the city’s harbor was warm, but swimmers criticized the conditions as dirty and smelly.

Numerous boats carefully tracked the field of 41 swimmers, who were strung out after the lead pack. The water is four meters deep on the course - two times deeper than the FINA standard. The bottom of the river in the competition area was cleaned beforehand.

“The quality of the Kazanka water conforms to all the sanitary norms,” said Dmitry Mikhailov, a deputy director general for sports projects.

The start and finish of the open water events is directly under the 27-meter tower that will be used for the high diving competition next week.

Anderson’s teammate, Ashley Twichell, was sixth.

Like the U.S., Australia placed both of its swimmers in the top 10. Jessica Walker was fifth and Melissa Gorman tied for seventh with Anastasia Krapivina of Russia.

In the men’s 5k, American David Heron was sixth and teammate Alex Meyer 11th.

Later Saturday diving and synchronized swimming medals were to be awarded.

In the debut of mixed duet synchro at worlds, the Russian duo of Darina Valitova and Aleksandr Maltsev was first with 88.85 points in the technical preliminary.

Americans Christina Jones and Bill May were second at 86.71, while the Italian duo of Manila Flamini and Giorgio Minisini was third with 84.07. The final is Sunday.

May is back in the sport after retiring 10 years ago. He’s been performing in a Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas.

“It’s very exciting for the sport and for men in synchronized swimming,” he said.

“We have a lot of support from our families, friends, coaches, so we are lucky.”

Results:

Men’s 5km openwater:

1. Chad Ho (RSA) 55min 17.6sec, 2. Rob Muffels (GER) 55:17.6, 3. Matteo Furlan (ITA) 55:20.0, 4. Evgenii Drattcev (RUS) 55:20.4, 5. Florian Wellbrock (GER) 55:20.6, 6. David Heron (USA) 55:20.7, 7. Celeb Hugues (GBR) 55:21.9, 8. Mario Sanzullo (ITA) 55:22.7, 9. Victor Colonese (BRA) 55:24.4, 10. Antonio Arroyo (ESP) 55:24.6, 11. Alex Meyer (USA) 55:25.3, 12. Sergey Bolshakov (RUS) 55:25.3.

Women’s 5km openwater:

1. Haley Anderson (USA) 58:48.4, 2. Kalliopi Araouzou (GRE) 58:49.8, 3. Finnia Wunram (GER) 58:51.0, 4. Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) 58:55.5, 5. Jessica Walker (AUS) 59:09.9, 6. Ashley Twichell (USA) 59:10.0, 7. Melissa Gorman (AUS) 59:12.7, 8. Anastasiia Krapivina (RUS) 59:12.7, 9. Arianna Bridi (ITA) 59:12.9, 10. Erika Villaecija (ESP) 59:15.0, 11. Martina Grimaldi (ITA) 59:16.0, 12. Eva Risztov (HUN) 59:16.1.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2015

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