Cleri, Grimaldi grab 10k world titles

Italy had a successful weekend in the water, as Valerio Cleri and Martina Grimaldi won 10k titles at the Open Water World Championships.

Held on Lac Saint-Jean in Roberval, Canada, the Worlds kicked off Saturday with the women's 10k event. In a field that contained all three podium finishers in both the Beijing Olympics and the 2009 FINA Worlds, Grimaldi was able to finish strong and swim to victory.

The 22-year-old Grimaldi, according to a race report on FINA.org, was in fourth place with 2.5 kilometers left. With 500 meters remaining she started her finishing kick, passing the three swimmers in front of her to victory. Her final time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 45.2 seconds was more than 10 ticks faster than second-place (and fellow Italian) Giorgia Consiglio (2:05:57.40) and China's Yanqiao Fang (2:05:59.10).

"I needed an all out sprint to break away from the pack," said Grimaldi, who took third at the 2009 Worlds. "I did not know where my energy was coming from, but I knew that I was capable of moving ahead and of finishing first."

• JULY 20 UPDATE: Australian Melissa Gorman, who originally finished third but was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct during the swim, was given back the bronze medal after successfully appealing to FINA.
  

In the men's event, Cleri registered a time of 2:00:59.3 for victory -- less than a second ahead of Russian Evgeny Drattsev (2:01:00.60). Russian Vladimir Dyatchin (2:01:03) was third; American Francis Crippen (2:01:05) took fourth.

Cleri, Drattsev and Dyatchin were in a chase group with 1.5 kilometers left in the race, and upon turning at the final buoy they began their final sprint to the finish. Cleri was able to hold them off at the wall.

"I am very pleased with today's race," Cleri said. "My strategy was to conserve my energy in the first three laps. I just wanted to be ready for the breakout sprint. I wasn't aware of the Russian swimmers, I was just trying to have a great finish."

The men's and women's 5k races will take place on Tuesday, to be followed on Thursday by the 25km competitions.

Some content provided by: FINA.org.