Thomas Lurz earns top spot in Men’s overall ranking: 2011 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup – Part 2
Thomas Lurz’s commendable efforts in the 10km discipline secured him the title in the first leg of 2011 10km Marathon World Cup, where Lurz, who was considerably ahead of his competitors expressed his happiness over his first victory.
Spectators appreciated the praiseworthy efforts of Lurz and Spyridon Gianniotis, who put up a great show and confirmed their top two spots on the podium. However, the contest was not over yet. The crowd experienced the efforts of Francisco Jose Hervas of
Brazil and Allan Do Carmo of Belgium, who kept struggling hard to escape each other over the finishing line.
Carmo tried his best to secure a podium finish but the Brazilian remained just 1.15 seconds slower than Hervas, who won the bronze medal in a time of 2 hours, 06 minute and 13.11 seconds. Carmo settled as the fourth finest swimmer of the race, completing
his swim in a time of 2 hours, 06 minutes and 14.26 seconds.
With his first victory, Lurz got a clear picture of the strength of his competitors, while a gold winning effort turned him more confident and he affixed his eyes on the next swim, which was scheduled exactly after twelve days at Cancun, Mexico, on April
30.
The swimmers gathered on the appointed date to prove their mettle for the second stage of the 10km swim. This time, the crowd’s favourite was surprised by his team-member, Andreas Waschburger, who remained in a lead of almost one second over Lurz and went
across the finishing line with a timing of 1 hour, 53 minutes and 58 seconds for gold medal.
Waschburger, who finished seventh in the first stop of the Marathon series made a considerable improvement in his timing to snatch the title from Lurz. He swam throughout the majority distance with constant speed and showed his skilful efforts to his challengers
in the final stages of the race.
Lurz failed to sustain his spot in the 10km race, but a silver finish just after winning the gold medal in the foremost race was a significant achievement. He was the only swimmer to secure a podium in both swims, while many athletes did not take part in
the second leg. Gianniotis and Hervas took rest in the Cancun swim, which proved helpful for American Swimmer, Alex Meyer, who earned bronze finish of the event.
The 31-year-old Lurz was prominently ahead of Meyer and expressed contentment after securing second position on the podium. With his continued efforts, Lurz stayed almost five seconds faster than the American, who appeared on the other side of the finishing
end by clocking a nice effort of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 04 seconds.
Meyer was followed by Peter Stoychev of Bulgaria, who was nearly seventeen seconds behind him, posting a time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 21 seconds. Waschburger was overjoyed with his win over the crowd’s beloved, but Lurz was outstandingly ahead of him over
the points table.
With the growing intensity between the open water athletes, spectators were eager to know who wins the third stop of the World Cup in Setubal, Portugal.
Continued in Part 3.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
Tags: