Germany's Leonie Beck won the first gold medal of the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in the women's 10 kilometers open water event here on Saturday, reported Xinhua.
The 26-year-old, silver medalist in last year's Budapest worlds, outsed Australia's Chelsea Gubecka in the final stage, touching home first with two hours two minutes and 34 seconds.
Gubecka, competing in her sixth world championships, took silver in 2:02:38.1 while American swimmer Katie Grimes settled for the bronze in 2:02:42.3.
Beck, who was 16th halfway into the race, said her tactic was very successful.
"The first half was OK and I tried to conserve my energy," she said. "The last lap was a fight to be in the right place for the finish."
Gubecka was very excited with the silver and a place in the Paris Olympic Games.
"I'm really excited," she said. "This will be my second Olympic Games. I missed Tokyo, which is really disappointing. I did race in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, so it's been a very long time since the Olympics."
- Beck
- Wins
- 10km title
- Swiming
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
