On July 26, Lac St. Jean (Québec, CAN) came alive with the staging of the seventh leg of the FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix 2008, which was a distance of 32km from Péribonka to Roberval. The winner of the women’s race was another experienced open water swimmer, Natalya Pankina (RUS) in 8h36m35sec. She was trailed rather closely by another Australian, Shelley Clark, but still took the win by about a minute. The excitement of the race was accentuated by the dramatic conditions, including waves of up to 1m and winds gusting to 50km/hour. Prize money amounted to US$40,000.
WOMEN’S MEDALLISTS
1. Natalya Pankina (RUS) 8h36m35s
2. Shelley Clark (AUS) 8h37m37s
3. Steffanie Biller (GER) 8h40m53s
Two days earlier, on Thursday, July 24, the fourth leg of the FINA 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup also took place on Lac St. Jean under rough conditions (choppy water, strong wind and heavy rain), Angela Maurer (GER) in the women’s field of just eight competitors. Maurer in a time of 2.13.57.49. the top-three women were also no more than a fraction apart at the end. This was the last FINA 10km World Cup stage before Beijing next month, when this distance will be swum as an Olympic event for the first time ever.
Rounding out the podium for the women’s field, taking silver behind Maurer was her compatriot Britta Kamrau-Corestein (GER, 2.14.28.58), while bronze went to another Australian Lucy Redgrove (2.15.10.65).
2008-08-05
