Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) and Daniel Fogg (GBR) earned the first titles on offer in open water swimming on the opening day of the 32nd European Championships in Berlin.
Sharon van Rouweendal of the Netherlands was crowned the first European champion of the 2014 edition in Berlin. It happened at the open water events at the magnificent rowing centre in Grunau where the women’s 10km race launched the 32nd European Championships
The enthusiastic spectators on the old stands witnessed another fantastic battle which offered the usual excitements. Italy’s Aurora Ponsele took the lead quite early and tried to set the pace. During the first 2.5km she built a 20sec lead ahead of the pack chasing her. She was still in front at half-way and even before the last lap but the gap diminished to a single second. The finish couldn’t have been any more thrilling: the competitors switched gears and they reached an amazing speed as if they hadn’t swum 9900 metres in the previous two hours or so. Finally, Rouwendaal stroke her way to the gold medal, reaching the touchpad 1.1sec ahead of Olympic champion Eva Risztov (HUN) who out-touched Ponsele by 0.4sec.
The men’s 5km time trial’s title went to Great Britain’s Daniel Fogg who even surprised himself by winning the event, ahead of the hosts’ two hopes, Rob Muffels and his majesty, the German Iron Man, Thomas Lurz.
This was part of a press release from LEN
Gallery images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu
