Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

After the two pre-race favorites, Becca Mann and Haley Anderson, qualified earlier in the morning for the women’s 10 km 2015 FINA World Championship qualification race in Miromar Lake in Fort Myers, Florida, the men’s subsequent race took all types of twists and turns with an unlikely finish.

The end result demonstrated once again that open water competitions can provide unexpected results.

But the years of hard work finally paid off big-time for Northwestern University’s Jordan Wilimovsky and the University of Michigan’s Sean Ryan who will both head to Russia in July with teammates Mann and Anderson and represent USA Swimming at the world championships, with a chance to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Wilimovsky and Ryan upset the two favored Olympians, Andrew Gemmell and Alex Meyer, as well as a large studly field, in some very impressive racing culminated in a brilliant final finish.

With 400m to go in a strategic race, Wilimovsky took off and finished in command. “I was just trying to kick as hard as I could the last little bit … I’d rather just go for it and see what happens,” Wilimovsky said. Ryan hung on for second just barely touching out Meyer with David Heron fourth, Gemmell fifth, Chip Peterson sixth, Cameron Stitt seventh, Arthur Frayler eighth, Blake Manganiello ninth and Taylor Abbott tenth.

Final Results:
1. Jordan Wilimovsky (Team Santa Monica, age 21) 1:54:27.928
2. Sean Ryan (Club Wolverine, 22) 1:54:40.334
3. Alex Meyer (Tennessee Aquatics, 26) 1:54:40.340
4. David Heron (Tennessee Aquatics, 20) 1:54:43.543
5. Andrew Gemmell (Nation’s Capital Swim Club, 24) 1:54:46.154
6. Chip Peterson (North Carolina Aquatic Club, 27) 1:55:18.160
7. Cameron Stitt (University Of Michigan Swim Team, 20) 1:56:12.022
8. Arthur Frayler (Unattached) 1:57:14.445
9. Blake Manganiello (Unattached) 1:58:57.973
10. Taylor Abbott (Nitro Swimming, 16) 1:58:58.705
11. Daniel O’Connor (Mission Viejo Nadadores, 23) 1:59:58.056
12. Brendan Casey (Team Santa Monica, 18) 2:00:27.220
13. Simon Lamar (FAST Swim Team, 15) 2:01:16.780
14. Logan Houck (Sandpipers Of Nevada, 18) 2:01:59.181
15. Jerad Kaskawal (FAST Swim Team, 19) 2:02:10.881
16. Joey Pedraza (RallySport Aquatic Club, 27) 2:02:14.042
17. Jacob Ores (Loveland Swim Club, 21) 2:02:38.704
18. Ryan Feeley (Badger Swim Club, 23) 2:03:58.987
19. Ben Lawless (University of Florida, 18) 2:04:03.052
20. Michael Brinegar (Unattached, 15) 2:04:48.493
21. Zane Grothe (Unattached) 2:04:55.654
22. Evan Pinion (Tennessee Aquatics, 20) 2:05:30.355
23. Christopher Grimmett-Norris (Nation’s Capital Swim Club, 20) 2:05:38.686
24. Steve Sholdra (Unattached, 21) 2:05:47.151
25. Aaron Apel (Scottsdale Aquatic Club, 16) 2:05:51.534
26. PJ Ransford (University Of Michigan Swim Team, 18) 2:06:09.711
27. Andrew Faciszewski (Air Force Academy, 20) 2:07:23.594
28. Nicholas McDowell (Sandpipers Of Nevada, 17) 2:07:33.980
29. Kevin Jackson (Air Force Academy, 21) 2:07:52.715
30. T.C. Smith (Sarasota Tsunami Swim Team, 16) 2:07:52.921
31. Nate Pawlowicz (Nation’s Capital Swim Club, 18) 2:13:28.331
32. Same Magnan (Parkland Aquatic Club, 17) 2:14:28.537
33. Billy Cadigan (North Baltimore Aquatic Club, 17) 2:15:11.960

The women’s results are posted here.

Upper photo shows Wilimovsky with long-time coach and open water strategist Dave Kelsheimer.

Copyright © 2015 by World Open Water Swimming Association