Courtesy of WOWSA, Huntington Beach, California.

When the pressure of competing in the Olympics dawns on the 25 finalists at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the men’s race comes down to the final lap, there will be surprises.

The old adage in open water swimming, “Expect the Unexpected,” will undoubtedly come to the fore.

While athletes who train in Southern California are expected to be in the lead heat like Jordan Wilimovsky of America and Oussama Mellouli of Tunisia, along with the European stars like Ferry Weertman, Spyridon Gianniotis, Jack Burnell and Marc-Antoine Olivier, there may an unexpected Olympian and world champion fighting for a position on the Olympic podium: Mateusz Sawrymowicz of Poland.

Even since unexpectedly winning the 2013 RCP Tiburon Mile in San Francisco Bay, Sawrymowicz has been carefully and strategically gaining experience in 10 km marathon swims and should be a force to be reckoned with in both Setúbal Bay, Portugal and Copacabana Beach, Brazil.

He recently won the opening leg of the LEN Open Water Cup in Eilat, Israel in a dominating fashion, nearly 20 seconds ahead of his Polish teammate Krzysztof Pielowski.

LEN Open Water Cup Eilat Men’s Results:
1 Mateusz Sawrymowicz (POL) 1:50:39.45
2 Krzysztof Pielowski (POL) 1:50:59.40 +00:19.95
3 Jan Micka (CZE) 1:51:03.35
4 Daniel Szekelyi (HUN)1:51:09.65
5 Andrea Manzi (ITA) 1:51:10.70
6 Shai Toledano (ISR) 1:51:11.40
7 Jan Kutnik (CZE) 1:51:12.10
9 Andrea Bianchi (ITA) 1:51:14.85
8 Matan Roditi (ISR) 1:51:14.85
10 Matej Kozubek (CZE) 1:51:18.75
11 Francesco Bianchi (ITA) 1:51:19.10
12 Christopher Bryan (IRL) 1:51:28.65
13 Shahar Resman (ISR) 1:51:30.40
14 Yuval Safra (ISR) 1:51:35.30
15 Igor Chervynskiy (UKR) 1:51:47.10
16 Dario Verani (ITA) 1:52:05.15
17 Mathieu Mattelaer (BEL) 1:53:34.05
18 Vit Ingeduld (CZE) 1:54:27.85
19 Alon Lerner (ISR) 1:54:39.95
20 Bar Soloveychik (ISR) 2:00:30.55
21 Idan Mordel (ISR) 2:00:38.15
22 Karel Baloun (CZE) 2:00:38.25
23 Guy Moskovich (ISR) 2:03:24.85
24 Yonatan Sharo Rosin (ISR) 2:06:46.45
25 Shai Grinberg (ISR) 2:06:54.05
26 Marek Pavuk (SVK) 2:07:25.40
27 Sean Pristin (ISR) 2:09:30.45
28 Baris Ahmet Yosmaoglu (TUR) 2:13:46.15
29 Ibrahem Masarwey (ISR) 2:21:12.30
DNF Ron Lebedinsky (ISR)

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