Open Water Event Concludes 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships

Bonn, Germany – After six days of competition inside the Pieter van den Hoogenband Swimming Stadium, the 2010 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Swimming World Championships finished with the Open Water event at E3 Beach in Eersel, the Netherlands.

South Africa’s Natalie Du Toit dominated the women’s S1-S10 race winning in a time of 1:00:22.00, more than six minutes ahead of Elodie Lorandi (FRA) and Sanja Milojevic (CRO). In the women’s S11-S13 race, Taigan van Rosmalen (NED) was the only competitor and finished in a time of 1:17:35.51.

Sergey Punko (RUS) was the fastest of all competitors, finishing in a time of 59:58.19 and winning the men’s S11-S13 race, ahead of Spain’s Enrique Floriano and Germany’s Robert Doerries. Australia’s Brenden Hall won the men’s S1-S10 race in a close finish with just 3.71 seconds ahead of Emanuel Goncalves (POR). Joe Wise (USA) came in third.

With a total of 649 athletes from 53 countries competing in 181 medal events, the 2010 IPC Swimming World Championships were the biggest ever. During the six days of competition inside the Pieter van den Hoogenband stadium, more than 6,500 spectators came to watch the outstanding performances by the swimmers.

Ukraine topped the medal tally with 58 medals overall, of which 21 were golden. USA took second place in the tally with 20 gold medals, just one ahead of Russia, which won 19 gold medals. USA’s Mallory Weggemann (S7) was the most successful athlete of these World Championships, winning eight gold medals and breaking nine world records.