Brennan Gravley Wins USA Swimming National 5K Title Over French Rival Axel Reymond
Over the last two decades, there have been many great open water races in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. This past weekend was no exception at the USA Swimming Open Water National and Junior Championships between April 1st – 3rd.
On Day Three of the three-day championship event, it was time for the podium switch in the men’s 5 km race.
On Day One, France’s Axel Reymond beat Brennan Gravley by a mere 3 seconds in the 10 km race. 48 hours later in the 5 km course, Gravley upped his podium position, beating Reymond by 2 seconds in another close mano-a-mano race.
Gravley, another in a long line of Sandpiper of Nevada swimmers taking the podium, won in 58:14 to 58:16 for Reymond. Gravley captured his first career open water national title in dramatic fashion: he settled in the back half of the pack in the front half of the race, but he started to reel in his competitors ahead of him one-by-one in the second half before touching first.
Gravley told USA Swimming, “I didn’t want to play it too aggressive and I kind of wanted to see if I can play it from the back half. There were a lot of different people in the front and that tends to bunch up. I think that played a big role in the race today. This [event] is a little more fun for me. I really do enjoy the 5K. The 10K is the Olympic event so the 5K is a little less pressure. It’s not as much of qualifier, but instead just a chance to race.”
Men’s 5 km National Championship Results:
- Brennan Gravley, Unattached, 58:14
- Axel Reymond, France, 58:16
- Marcel Schouten, Netherlands, 58:17
- David Heron, Mission Viejo Nadadores, 58:20
- Simon Lamar, Fast Swim Team, 58:26
- Ondrej Zach, Unattached, 58:29
- Dylan Gravely, Unattached, 58:31
- Theodore Smith, Unattached, 58:33
- Victor Johansson, Sweden, 58:36
- Joseph Tepper, University of Tennessee, 59:23
- Joshua Brown, Highlander Aquatic Club, 59:23
- Trey Dickey, Texas A & M University, 59:45
- Tyler Watson, Unattached, 59:46
- Ivan Puskovitch, Unattached, 1:00:31
- John Vandeusen, Unattached, 1:00:48
- Jacob Narvid, University of Tennessee, 1:00:49
- William Mullen, Unattached, 1:00:53
- Aidan Pflieger, Reno Aquatic Club, 1:01:56
- Brice Barrieault, Sandpipers of Nevada, 1:02:15
- Maksim Maskalenka, Sandpipers of Nevada, 1:02:17
- William Glass, Nova of Virginia, 1:02:18
- Isak Vikstrom, Sweden, 1:02:21
- Nicholas Theodos, Csp Tideriders, 1:02:24
- Timothy Paisley, Unattached, 1:03:30
- William Shoemaker, Sarasota Tsunami Swim Team, 1:03:46
- Devin Bauman, Sandpipers of Nevada, 1:10:53
- Amadeusz Kielczewski, Poland, DQ
For more information on the 2022 USA Swimming Open Water National & Junior Championships, visit here.
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