Gravley, Smith Lead U.S. in Open Water World Championships 5K

Gravley, Smith Lead U.S. in Open Water World Championships 5K

The 2022 FINA World Open Water Championships continued Wednesday morning, featuring the men’s and women’s 5K event at the Lupa Beach in Budapest, Hungary.

The men’s race saw Brennan Gravley and Simon Lamar fight the course. Gravley, the reigning U.S. national champion in the event, posted the top-American finish in the men’s division by tying for 10th place in 52:48.40. The result is three spots better than his finish in the event at the 2019 FINA World Open Water Championships and is his first top-10 finish in an individual event at a senior-level international open water competition.

“That race was super quick,” Gravley said. “We had (Mykhailo) Romanchuck, Flo (Florian Wellbrock) and Greg (Gregorio Paltrinieri) leading that race. From my understanding, Romanchuk was out really quick, so he made it really thin, really fast. I think having those pool swimmers who swam the mile really opens up the racing here and they make things a lot more competitive and a lot less lackadaisical.”

Lamar touched in 15th place with a time of 56:21.20, after a photo-finish revealed just 1.1 seconds separating spots 14-16. He entered the final lap sitting in 24th place before increasing his stroke-per-minute count by 1.7 on the final kilometer to climb up nine positions to his final placement. 

The women’s event saw Summer Smith claim top-American-finisher honors by going 1:00:02.20 for 12th. 

“It was amazing to be able to race those fast women,” Smith said. “I took it out with the front pack and tried to stay with them, and next time I’ll just try to hit a better line from the first buoy to the second buoy.”

Smith was followed by her U.S. teammate, Anna Auld, whose 1:00:57.20 resulted in a 20th-place finish. The American duo represented two of only four swimmers who are younger than 20 years old and finished inside the top-20 today, while Smith, 19, was the top-finisher among all teenagers in the field. 

The open water segment of the 2022 FINA World Championships continues Wednesday, June 29 with the men’s and women’s 10K. The women will begin at 2 a.m. ET while the men start at 6 a.m. ET. The schedule, entries, results and more can be found here.

Additional information can be found at www.usaswimming.org/2022Worlds.