Mission successful. In the 10km men’s open water swimming, the only Olympic cross-country distance, Italy will have two athletes competing in Paris. The maximum possible for each national team. To the World Cup in Doha it was the last chance to get the Olympic card and it was necessary to get among the top 13. Objective achieved by the two blues Domenico Acerenza and Dario Veraniboth training partners and great friends of Gregorio Paltrinieri who in this race was on the podium at the Tokyo Games.
Acerenza, already vice world champion and European 10km champion, was always in the leading group and in the medal area, even trying to take the lead in the last of the six laps of the Old Port. “I wanted the podium, but I felt a little tense about the Olympic goal which was then achieved. Now we will continue to work to improve our condition” says the champion from Potenza who slipped in the last meters to seventh place. Immediately behind (8th) the other blue Dario Verani, already world champion and European vice-champion of the 25km, and competing in this world championship after the withdrawal of Paltrinieri, in fact already holder of the Olympic card in cross-country skiing because he was qualified by right in the 1500 freestyle. Therefore, as per the decision of the Federnuoto, Verani would in any case have had to leave his possible place for Paris to a teammate. The rules were clear: only one Olympic pass would have gone to Paltrinieri, two Olympic passes to Paltrinieri and Acerenza. “An honor to make way for the best cross-country swimmer not only in Italy but in the world” says a proud Verani at the end of the race won by the Hungarian Kristof Rasovszky, an expert athlete but with his first world success in the 10km. The silver goes to the Frenchman Marc-Antoine Olivier, who trains in Italy at the court of Fabrizio Antonelli with Paltrinieri, Acerenza and Verani. The bronze went to the surprising Briton Hector Pardoe, with his first great prestigious result. Far behind some of the favorites of the day before, including the Germans: Florian Wellbrock, reigning Olympic champion, after leading the race on the first lap, slipped away and finished twenty-ninth (1h49’59″0) while Oliver Klemet was eleventh, 11 seconds behind the winner Magyar.
Paltrinieri who gave up the 10km to make room for his friend Verani and to stay in Italy for a few more days to train at altitude and was present in the competition field in Doha to cheer on his teammates. He will be ready to dive into the sea on Wednesday in the 5 km and on Thursday in the 4×1500 relay (non-Olympic races). Subsequently, as captain of the national team, he is also expected to be a protagonist in the pool where he is entered in both the 800m and the 1500m. In Paris the program will be reversed: first the swimming pool, then the 10km cross-country race. And the choice to give up the world championship precisely to the testing 10km – which always leaves waste and fatigue on the body of every athlete – indicates Greg’s desire to aim high in the rest of the world championship programme. Waiting for pool in Paris and the 10 km in the Seine, with two Italians at the start.
2024-02-04 18:10:46
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