The penultimate leg of the 2023 LEN Open Water Cup is coming this Sunday in Velez, North Macedonia. The heat is on, especially in the women’s event where the first three in the overall rankings will line up for the 10km start.

While the men’s overall is more like an Italian duel between Marcello Guidi and Mario Sanzullo, the women’s ranks show a three-horse race among Arianna Bridi of Italy, Bettina Fabian of Hungary and Lea Boy of Germany.

Bridi still leads as she swam all four legs so far, while Fabian had three appearances and Boy only two, but the German won both, Leg 3 and 4, to trail by 550 points to Bridi (a win gives 800 points). And all three swimmers are heading to Velez for this Sunday and indeed they have a strong chance to medal again, just like they did in Samorin three weeks ago. In Slovakia, Boy won by a mile while junior world champion Fabian out-touched Bridi for the silver.

The men’s race will miss the overall leader as Guidi will not be part of the show this time which presents Sanzullo a great chance to retake the lead as he is just 300 points behind his Italian fellow. Based on previous merits, Hungary’s Peter Galicz might be a threat, bronze medallist from last year’s Worlds in the 25km. 

The race kicks off on Sunday morning from 11.00 local time – stay tuned for more details.

Overall rankings after 4 legs

Men (Top 5)

1. Marcello Guidi (ITA) 2500

2. Mario Sanzullo (ITA) 2200

3. Domenico Acerenza (ITA) 1500

4. Andrea Filadelli (ITA) 1310

5. David Betlehem (HUN) 1050

Women (Top 5)

1. Arianna Bridi (ITA) 2150

2. Bettina Fabian (HUN) 1900

3. Lea Boy (GER) 1600

4. Ginevra Taddeucci (ITA) 1500

5. Silvia Ciccarella (ITA) 1300