Gregorio Paltrinieri and Kristof Rasovszky shared the men’s overall Fina Marathon Swim World Series 10km open water title for 2022 after the final leg in Eilat, Israel.
Italian World champion Paltrinieri claimed gold in the last of the four race series in a time of one hour 46 minutes and 41.80 seconds, edging Marc-Antoine Oliver of France (+1.60 secs) into second.
World junior champion David Betlehem touched out countryman Rasovszky for the final place of the podium for the individual race, which was locked out by European swimmers.
It also ensured the 19-year-old, winner of the final LEN Open Cup race of the season in September, was third in the overall standings for the Fina Open Water Series.
It was a result which saw Rasovszky, the Tokyo 2020 10km Olympic silver medallist, finish with a total of 2400 points, the same as Paltrinieri – who competed in three races across the season, which was one fewer than his Hungarian rival.
“It was a good race, all the toughest guys were here,” Paltrinieri said. “That makes it enjoyable to win this race as there were lots of tactics and everyone keeping eyes on one another.”
Rasovszky stated he and Betlehem had “achieved” what they came for.
“I managed to retain the overall title while David (Betlehem) kept his third rank and claimed bronze in the race, so there is no reason to be dissatisfied.
“Of course, I didn’t aim for the fourth place – which would have anyway secured a shared overall title as minimum – but it happened that way at the end and we gave all what we had.”
The women’s 10km event was won by Australia’s Chelsea Gubecka (1:56:19.80), with Ana Marcela Cuhna (+3.80 secs) of Brazil second and Germany’s European champion Leonie Beck (+5.50 secs) third.
The Brazilian’s result was enough to secure her the women’s overall title with 2900 points.
Eight-time European champion Sharon Van Rouwendaal of the Netherlands (2700) slipped to second after an eighth-place finish in Israel.
Ginevra Taddeucci of Italy, who won 10km silver at Roma 2022, took third on the overall rankings with 2150 points after placing ninth.
For full results from the final race, as well as those from earlier in the series, head to the Fina website.
