Karla Sitic And Petar Stoychev Meet The President
After the 30K FINA Open Water Swimming Grand Prix in Lake Ohrid, Macedonia on August 14th – the ninth leg of ten stops – 13 male and 9 female professional marathon swimmers from nine countries were warmly greeted by the President of Macedonia in a first-class post-race awards ceremony at the luxurious lakeshore Hotel Inex Gorica.With warm summer air (35°C) and water (22°C) temperatures, the conditions were calm, sunny and no wind – leading to one giant male-female lead pack of 16 swimmers with the leaders constantly changing over the first 17K. At the 17K mark, the lead pack picked up the pace a bit with the ubiquitous Petar Stoychev leading the group together with Alexander Studzinski of Germany and Rodolfo Valenti of Italy.
Petar put on his typically strong final sprint to win yet another FINA Grand Prix event while Damian Blaum of Argentina nearly closed the gap with Alexander and was only touched out by less than a second for the silver medal.
On the women’s side Karla Sitic of Croatia won her first FINA Grand Prix event of 2010 in 5:47:18, surprising veterans Ester Nunez of Spain (5:54:23) and point-leader Pilar Geijo of Argentina (5:54:27).
The official men’s results:
1. Petar Stoychev (Bulgaria) 5:37:39
2. Alexandar Studzinsky (Germany) 5:38:08
3. Damian Blaum (Argentina) 5:38:09
4. Antonos Fokadis (Greece) 5:39:13
5. Rodolfo Valenti (Italy) 5:39:36
6. Evgenij Pop Acev (Macedonia) 5:45:15
7. Andrea Volpini (Italy) 5:51:16
8. Tsvetan Jordanov (Bulgaria) 6:00:13
9. Aleksandar Ilievski (Macedonia) 6:19:50
10. Dejan Mladenovski (Macedonia) 6:29:29
11. Aleksandar Panceski (Macedonia) 6:50:11
The official women’s results:
1. Karla Sitic (Croatia) 5:47:18
2. Ester Nunez (Spain) 5:54:23
3. Geijo Pilar (Argentina) 5:54:27
4. Antonella Bogarin (Argentina) 5:57:21
5. Aleksandra Romiti (Italy) 5:57:21
6. Marianela Mendoza (Argentina) 6:15:45
7. Jelena Dedajic (Montenegro) 6:17:50
8. Niccoleta Simonazzi (Italy) 6:18:54
9. Ivana Sitic (Croatia) 6:26:28
Photo of Karla Sitic by VL.
Copyright © 2010 by Open Water Source
Southern California native, born 1962, is the creator of the WOWSA Awards, Oceans Seven, Openwaterpedia, Citrus Corps, World Open Water Swimming Association, Daily News of Open Water Swimming, Global Open Water Swimming Conference. He is Chief Executive Officer of KAATSU Global and KAATSU Research Institute. Inductee in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Swimmer, Class of 2001) and Ice Swimming Hall of Fame (Honor Contributor - Media, Class of 2019), recipient of the International Swimming Hall of Fame's Poseidon Award (2016), International Swimming Hall of Fame's Irving Davids-Captain Roger Wheeler Memorial Award (2010), USA Swimming's Glen S. Hummer Award (2007, 2010) and Harvard University's John B. Imrie Award (1984). Served on the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee and as Technical Delegate with the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games, and 9-time USA Swimming coaching staff. Note: WOWSA only recommends products or services used or recommended by the community. WOWSA does not receive compensation for links or products mentioned on this site or in blog posts. If it does, it will be indicated clearly on that specific post. See WOWSA's privacy policy for more information.
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