Swimming: World Aquatics Championships - Fukuoka 2023 (Open Water 10km) |18 July 2023
61st overall spot for Damien Payet
• Sofie Frichot misses out on time limit
Young local swimmer Damien Payet managed to successfully endure his 10km open water challenge at the ongoing World Aquatics Championships, taking place in Fukuoka, Japan, while his compatriot Sofie Frichot could not complete the women’s race within the given time limit.
In the men’s 10km race held on Sunday, Payet was sharing the Seaside Momochi Beach Park with 66 others, coming from 41 different countries.
The Seychellois swimmer managed to finish 61st overall, clocking 2 hours, 11 minutes 03.3 seconds (2h11:03.03).
It was Florian Wellbrock of Germany who finished first in 1:50:40.03, ahead of Hungary’s Kristóf Rasovszky who finished as runner-up in 1h50:59.0. Another German, namely Oliver Klemet was third overall in 1h51:00.8
In the female challenge, Frichot could not complete the course within the given time limit.
It was Leonie Beck of Germany who topped the group of 61 swimmers from 37 countries, finishing first in 2h02:34.00, ahead of Australia’s Chelsea Gubecka who was second in 2h02:38.01.
United States’ Katie Grimes was the third swimmer to cross the finish line, clocking 2h02:42.03.
Payet and Frichot will be in action again today, this time in the 5km open water challenge.
Seychelles’ other swimmers at the competition are Felicity Passon and Simon Bachman.
The 2023 World Aquatics Championships, the 20th, were originally scheduled to be held in 2021, but were postponed to May 2022 in response to the rescheduling of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The event was pushed back a second time to 2023 due to ongoing travel restrictions and safety measures in place in Japan. In its place, Budapest hosted the 19th Championships from June 18 to July 3 in 2022.
It is the second time Fukuoka hosts this meet, 22 years after the 2001 Championship.
A total of 75 medal events will be held across six disciplines, including artistic swimming, diving, open water swimming, water polo, swimming and high diving.
Compiled by Roland Duval