Dutch iron-woman Sharon van Rouwendaal claimed her second Olympic women’s 10km marathon swimming gold medal on Thursday by snatching the lead late from Australia’s silver medallist Moesha Johnson in the long slog through the river Seine.
Van Rouwendaal celebrated her second Olympic triumph, eight years after topping the podium at Rio 2016. She bided her time before striking late in the final leg up-stream against the current, zipping around a pylon at the Pont des Invalides before powering past the 26-year-old Johnson for the lead.
The Dutch champion held that ascendency over the last few hundred metres, crossing the finish after a lung-busting two hours, three minutes and 34.2 seconds, 5.5 seconds ahead of Johnson. Ginevra Taddeucci won the bronze for Italy in 2:03.42.8.
The race went ahead as scheduled after organisers said the water quality in the Seine river had met acceptable thresholds.
The swimmers dived off a pontoon by the Alexandre III bridge right on schedule at 7:30am local time and swam furiously toward the Pont de l’Alma on a 1.67km loop to be completed six times between the two city bridges.
They flew down-river with the current but had to slog their way up-river on each of the return legs, hugging the banks to try to minimise the force of strong currents. Johnson rounded the first lap in front, conceded the lead to Van Rouwendaal but won it back downstream on lap four.
The pair were then joined by Taddeucci in a three-woman breakaway and blew out the gap to the rest of the field by more than 30 seconds before the wily Van Rouwendaal’s late burst saw her take control. Brazil’s Ana Marcela Cunha, who pipped Van Rouwendaal to gold in Tokyo three years ago, finished fourth.
“I trust my staff and the medical advice, I trust the [water quality] results were within good boundaries, so I’ve no doubts,” Johnson said. “Yes, I have had a Coca Cola, but I’ll go home and have some antibiotics as well – and that’s my plan. And the water? I’ve tasted worse, to be honest.
“But it’s not about what the water looks like. I’ve swum in brown water and it’s been really good quality. It’s about what the data shows us.”
The men race on Friday but the completion of the women’s event without any apparent incident will have been a relief for city officials who have staked much on cleaning up the urban waterway. French authorities spent 1.4 billion euros ($1.5 billion) on upgrading the city’s sewage systems, promising the river would be clean for residents to swim in by summer.
However, water quality issues have proven a headache for organisers during the triathlon events, with familiarisation sessions cancelled and the men’s race postponed by 24 hours. A familiarisation session for the marathon swimming was cancelled on Tuesday due to concerns over water pollution but another went ahead on Wednesday.
Australia clinched another silver medal later in the day in a thrilling men’s K4 500 metre final, edged by sprint kayak powerhouse Germany. In a blanket finish, the crew of Riley Fitzsimmons, Jackson Collins, Pierre van der Westhuyzen and Noah Havard finished in second spot in a photo finish, with Spain third.
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Taking their third successive Olympic title in the event, Germany won the race in one minute 19.80 seconds, 0.04 seconds ahead of Australia with the Spaniards 0.21 seconds back from the green and gold paddlers.
It was a second Olympic medal for the family of South African-born van der Westhuyzen after his older brother Jean won gold in Tokyo in the K2, which he will line up in again in Paris.
The Australian men’s Olympic campaign started slowly, finishing a shock third in their heat on Tuesday. But in the semi-final, raced early Thursday, they made a statement by setting a new Olympic record in the event. That time, 1:19.22, would have won them gold in the final.
Taliqua Clancy and Mariafe Artacho Del Solar are out of the beach volleyball gold medal mix, falling to Brazil in their semi-final by two sets to one. The veteran duo won the first set of their Paris semi-final 22-20 but Brazilian duo Ana Patricia Ramos and Eduarda Santos Lisboa (Duda) roared back to take it to a decider, winning the second 21-15.
Brazil will face Canadian veterans Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes for the Olympic title on Friday while the Australians have a bronze medal clash with Switzerland’s Tanja Huberli and Nina Brunner.