Thomas Lurz impresses in final race of Men’s 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup, Honk Kong
German Open Water veteran, Thomas Lurz proved his ascendancy to the aquatic world by impressing his fans in the final stop of Men’s 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup, on Sunday, October 2, in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong.
The 10km Marathon championship was a Federation Internationale de Natation (FINA) organised competition, which completed after the conclusion of its final stop.
Lurz, who is the gold medallist of 5km discipline at the 2011 Shanghai World Championships, smothered the efforts of his competitors in the open water discipline. He pocketed the title of the Men’s discipline by clocking a time of 1 hour, 58 minutes and
16.70 seconds.
The German was heavily supported by his followers and was the most favourite athlete to win the title of the event. His remarkable performance in the initial stops of the world cup made him the top contender for gold medal.
Previously, he won the gold medal of first stop of the series in Santos, Brazil, a silver medal in Cancun, Mexico and then a bronze medal in Setubal, Portugal. He did not participate in Lac St- Jean and Lac Megantic, while he competed in the sixth stop of
series at Shantou, China, where he again snatched the title of the event.
Lurz has been performing consistently in open water events throughout his career. Apart from his gold winning effort at the 2011 World Championships, Lurz occupied a silver medal in the 10km open water and a bronze in 5km open water team event. She was
also the gold medallist of 5km and 10km swims at the 2009 Rome World Championships.
This was his third inspiring performance in the 10km discipline. Winning at Hong Kong was not easy as the 31-year-old Lurz faced a tough challenge from his team-member, Christian Reichert, who remained only 0.20 seconds behind the gold medallist.
Reichert was successful in putting a lot of pressure on his team-mate, but failed to cross him over the finishing line, ending second with a 1 hour, 58 minutes and 16.90 seconds effort. He kept threatening Lurz with his gigantic efforts in the open water
swim but the champion showed his urgency towards the finishing line and secured his gold medal.
The third spot of the race was secured by Republic of South Africa’s Chad Ho, who remained 0.50 seconds behind his former finisher and met the expectations of his fans by winning the bronze medal in a time of 1 hour, 58 minutes and 17.40 seconds.
Lurz was overjoyed with his remarkable effort and expressed his desire of repeating the same at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
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