NEWS

Rasovszky and Dearing earn gold at World Junior Open Water Championships

Hungarian swimmer Kristof Rasovszky and Great Britain’s Alice Dearing emerged victorious from the 10km swim at the World Junior Open Water Championships, which have just concluded in Hoorn, Holland. While this was the third running of the championships it was the first time junior swimmers in the 18/19 age category could compete over the Olympic 10km distance.

In the men’s race, Rasovszky opened a gap on the pack on the third of four 2.5km laps and wasn’t threatened again after that. He touched home in 1:53:01.7, nearly 30 seconds ahead of second place Zhongyi Qiao of China and third place Andrea Manzi of Italy.

Img 2223 1

Kristof Rasovszky

The women’s race was more tightly contested with the leading contenders tightly packed until the end. With 50m to go, Hungarian Nikoletta Kiss was in front, but Dearing sprinted through at the last moment to claim gold by half a second in 2:04:25.1. Valeriia Ermakova of Russia finished a further 1.4 seconds back.

“The race was a little bit rough,” says Dearing from Birmingham, who has been racing in open water for four years.

British team leader Bernie Dietzig says: “We are a little bit surprised, but she was always in the leading pack and took her chance in the last lap.”

All images: Hans-Peter Sick

Img 2234 1

Alice Dearing

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

I created Outdoor Swimmer in 2011 (initially as H2Open Magazine) as an outlet for my passion for swimming outdoors. I've been a swimmer and outdoor swimmer for as long as I remember. Swimming has made a huge difference to my life and I want to share its joys and benefits with as many people as possible. I am also the author of Swim Wild & Free: A Practical Guide to Swimming Outdoors 365 a Year and I provide one-to-one support to swimmers through Swim Mentoring.