The mixed 5 km team relay at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships was held on 18 July 2019 in Expo Ocean Park bay, Yeosu, South Korea.
The United States was leading at halfway, before Germany overtook them to win gold with a time of 53:58.7, Italy won silver with 53:58.9, and the United States won bronze with 53:59.0.
Race The race took place at 08:00 on 18 July in Expo Ocean Park, Yeosu, South Korea. The water was choppy. Each team consisted of two men and two women swimming 1.25 km each, in any order, for a combined distance of 5 km. SwimSwam wrote that each team's choice for the order of their male and female swimmers was a "strategic" decision.
Germany and Italy both chose to allocate their two women to the first two legs, while the United States chose to order their relay as female, male, female, male. The individual 10 km champion Florian Wellbrock did not compete for the German team, in order to focus on the pool events he was competing in later in the Championships.
Tactical blocking and jostling occurred during the race, and Germany's Sarah Köhler was given a yellow card during the second leg; a second yellow card would mean disqualification for the team.
The United States was leading at the halfway mark, while Germany was eighth, but Germany's two men took the lead over the last two legs, and Germany won gold with a time of 53:58.7. Italy finished 0.2 seconds behind to win silver with 53:58.9, and the United States won bronze with 53:59.0. Brazil finished fourth, and the defending champions, France, finished sixth.
Germany's win was their fourth medal in open water swimming at the Championships. World Aquatics called Gregorio Paltrinieri the "key ingredient" to Italy's silver. ESPN called it a "close finish".
+ Results Rank Nation Swimmers Time Lea BoySarah KöhlerSören MeißnerRob Muffels 53:58.7 Rachele BruniGiulia GabbrielleschiDomenico AcerenzaGregorio Paltrinieri 53:58.9 Haley AndersonJordan WilimovskyAshley TwichellMichael Brinegar 53:59.0 4 Ana Marcela CunhaViviane JungblutDiogo VillarinhoFernando Ponte 54:24.5 5 Chelsea GubeckaHayden CotterKareena LeeNicholas Sloman 54:36.8 6 Lara GrangeonDavid AubryAurélie MullerMarc-Antoine Olivier 54:37.1 7 Esmee VermeulenSharon van RouwendaalPepijn SmitsFerry Weertman 54:37.2 8 Réka RohácsGergely GyurtaAnna OlaszKristóf Rasovszky 55:02.7 9 Hou YawenCheng LongAn JiabaoXin Xin 55:14.8 10 Anastasia BasaldukDenis AdeevValeriia ErmakovaKirill Abrosimov 55:19.1 11 Danielle HuskissonAlice DearingTobias RobinsonJack Burnell 55:31.1 12 Paula RuizGuillem PujolMaría de Valdés ÁlvarezRaúl Santiago Betancor 55:31.5 13 Kate SandersonHau-Li FanChantel JeffreyEric Hedlin 56:20.3 14 Yumi KidaTakeshi ToyodaMinami NiikuraTaiki Nonaka 56:52.1 15 Michelle WeberDanie MaraisRobyn KinghornChad Ho 56:52.9 16 Yonatan RosinMatan RoditiEva FabianEden Girloanta 57:24.5 17 Martha AguilarDaniel DelgadilloMartha SandovalArturo Pérez Vertti 58:37.0 18 Ban Seon-jaePark Seok-hyunJung Ha-eunJaehun Park 58:59.0 19 Liliana HernándezWilder CarrenoPaola PérezDiego Vera 59:01.0 20 David FarinangoNataly Caldas CalleAna AbadDavid Castro 59:37.9 21 William ThorleyKeith SinNip Tsz YinWong Cho Ying
Further information
– Some post-race quotes from the German swimmers – Highlights video – Further information on the German team and their celebrations – Photo gallery from the event – Further information on the German race – Long quote from Paltrinieri after the race
Notes
References