The open water swimming team event at the 2013 World Aquatics Championships was held on 25 July 2013 at the Moll de la Fusta harbour in Port Vell, Barcelona, Spain.
Germany won gold with a time of 52:54.9, Greece won silver with 54:03.3, and Brazil won bronze with 54:03.5.
Event description Each country was represented by three swimmers who swam as a team. Each team swam the same 5-kilometre double-loop, with each member of the team starting at the same time. The time it took the last member of the team to complete the course determined the team's time, which determined the finishing positions as in a time trial. A staggered start was implemented, meaning each team was set off individually one minute after the previous team.
Teams were required to contain at least one man and one woman.
Race The race started at 12:00 CET on 25 July. It took place at the Moll de la Fusta harbour in Port Vell, Barcelona, Spain.
Swimmers swam close to their teammates to draft each other and reduce overall effort. Germany was the fourth team to start its swim, and they overtook the three teams in front of them on course to win the gold with a time of 52:54.9. SwimSwam wrote that the race was "pure domination" by the Germans. Greece won silver with 54:03.3, and Brazil won bronze with 54:03.5.
The United States, who won the inaugural version of the event at the previous World Championships, finished sixth. After the race, Andrew Gemmell of the US said "That race was much deeper and much faster than it was in 2011. The other teams have a lot more experience and are putting a lot more emphasis on it. That's something we can keep improving on." Hungary finished ninth with two women in its team, while all the other teams were composed of two men and one woman.
Brazil's bronze was their fifth medal in open water swimming at the Championships, and Thomas Lurz's participation in the German team earned him his third medal of the Championships and the sixth World Championship gold of his career. Poliana Okimoto also won her third medal of the Championships as part of the Brazilian team.
+ Results Rank Nation Swimmers Time Thomas LurzChristian ReichertIsabelle Härle 52:54.9 Antonios FokaidisSpyridon GianniotisKalliopi Araouzou 54:03.3 Allan do CarmoSamuel de BonaPoliana Okimoto 54:03.5 Jarrod PoortSimon HuitengaMelissa Gorman 54:16.1 Luca FerrettiSimone ErcoliRachele Bruni 54:34.0 Andrew GemmellSean RyanHaley Anderson 54:44.7 Damien Cattin-VidalBertrand VenturiAurelie Muller 55:26.3 Evgeny DrattsevKirill AbrosimovElizaveta Gorshkova 56:08.7 Márk PappAnna OlaszÉva Risztov 56:09.4 10 Phillip RyanKane RadfordCara Baker 56:12.0 11 Daniel MaraisChad HoKyna Pereira 56:34.7 12 Eric HedlinPhilippe GuertinZsofia Balazs 57:13.7 13 Yuto KobayashiYasunari HiraiYumi Kida 58:00.0 14 Weng JingweiHan LiduCao Shiyue 58:02.6 15 Guillermo BertolaMartin CarrizoFlorencia Mazzei 58:12.0 16 Miguel HernándezIván LópezLizeth Rueda 58:17.7 17 Johndry SegoviaLuis BolanosFlorencia Melo 58:59.9 18 Seifeddine SghaierBadr ChebchoubMaroua Mathlouthi 59:19.4 19 Vitaliy KhudyakovVladimir TolikinXeniya Romanchuk 20 Ivan Enderica OchoaSantiago EndericaKatia Barros 21 Youssef HossameldeenAdel RagabLaila El Basiouny 22 Ching Leung Sunny PoonLi Chun HongFiona On Yi Chan
Further information
– Interviews with Thomas Lurz and Isabelle Härle of Germany – Quotes from all the medalling swimmers after the race – Further quotes and details on Brazil's performance
References