NEWS

Bertola and Biagioli take gold in first FINA UltraMarathon race

The rebranded FINA UltraMarathon Swim Series 2018, formerly the Open Water Grand Prix, kicked off in Coronda Santa Fe in Argentina on Sunday 4 February with a 57km swim down the river El Rio. The first race in the series was won by local heroes Guillermo Bertola and Cecilia Biagioli.

In the men’s race Bertola touched first in 7h32m18s09. The podium was completed by two Italian swimmers, Edoardo Stochino (7h34m33s50) and Simone Ercoli (7h34m36s72). Macedonia’s Evgenij Pop Acev, last year’s joint series winner with Bertola, finished in fourth place in 7:34:36.78, missing out on a podium place by just over 2 seconds.

In the women’s race, Cecilia Biagioli took gold in 7h33m47s70. Italy’s Barbara Pozzobon and Alice Franco took silver and bronze in 7h42m38s54 and 7h44m33s48 respectively.

Full results of the race are available here.

The next stop for the UltraMarathon series is Lac St Jean in Canada on 28 July.

Stay up to date with The Dip, our free weekly outdoor swimming newsletter.

Jonathan is a year-round skins swimmer with a particular love of very cold water. He has competed in ice swimming competitions around the world. He is a qualified open water coach with a particular love of introducing new swimmers to the open water.