Simone Ruffini grabs 25km open water title

“I have been swimming for many years now and quite often I had to swim in cold water. So I am all ready for it. I guess I am used to it. Is it an advantage? No, it’s not. The weather doesn’t matter to me. I can perform in any type of weather. As for some other swimmers, I know they have a hard time swimming in cold water,” Evgenii Drattcev told journalists a few days before the start of the 16th FINA World Championships. 

There is a good reason why weather conditions were mentioned in an interview with the sports reporter of the OC’s Press Office. The weather forecasts were not very comforting, and it was clear that a heated battle for gold was supposed to unfold in a gloomy weather. 

Today the rain caught the athletes during the event as well but thankfully halfway through the 25km race. Ironically enough, the sky turning grey affected directly the host open water swimmer‘s chances of winning the race. Evgenii Drattcev who is now known for being used to swimming in such kind of weather was among the leaders in the first 15 kilometres of the race where the time difference between the first 10 places was no more than 2 seconds, which meant that each of them stood a chance to win. However, by the end of the race the Russian swimmer was obviously tired and eventually dropped out of the leading pack. Sam Sheppard from Austria, Erwin Maldonado from Venezuela and Alexander Studzinski from Germany also left the race.

Simone Ruffini of Italy appeared to be most accustomed to the whims of nature. The winner of several legs of the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix has long lived in the shadow of reigning European champion Axel Raymond of France, who eventually finished fourth, or US athlete Alex Meyer. The latter was outpaced by the Italian swimmer in the final lap when it was high time to lay claims on the title. The finish spurt enabled the winner to hit the touchpad with a narrow margin of 4.4 seconds. A minute and a half later the newly crowned champion was able to congratulate his compatriot Matteo Furlan who managed to join Ruffini on the podium and settled for the third spot.

By the way, the winner’s current result could not surpass the final time shown  two years earlier by Thomas Lurz, who covered the 25km distance in 4:47:27.0. One might only guess if the result would have been different if the defending champion had participated, but literally a couple of months before the starts of the FINA Worlds the seven-time world champion surprised the whole sporting world with his decision to conclude his career.

FINA Worlds 2015. Open water event. 

Men. 25km

1. Simone RUFFINI (ITA) - 4:53:10.7  

2. Alex MEYER (USA) – 4:53:15.1

3. Matteo FURLAN (ITA) - 4:54:42.4

Kazanka Venue. August 1

Press Office of Organising Committee for 16th FINA World Championships