Swimming World Championships in Budapest: Leonie Beck wins silver in open water

Enlarge image

Leonie Beck after winning the silver medal

Photo: Zsolt Szigetvary / EPA

Leonie Beck won the silver medal over ten kilometers in open water at the swimming world championships in Budapest.

After evaluating the finish photo, the Dutchwoman Sharon van Rouwendaal was declared the winner.

Olympic champion and five-kilometer world champion Ana Marcela Cunha from Brazil was also there in the dramatic final sprint after 2:02 hours in Lupa Lake and finished third.

Lea Boy finished eighth.

"I'm happy that it finally worked out at a world championship," said Beck, who won gold on Sunday with the relay for Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock.

After finishing fourth over five kilometers two days earlier, Beck swam much more aggressively and even looked like the winner with 200 meters to go.

However, Van Rouwendaal had the higher top speed and finished after 2:02:29.20 hours - five tenths of a second ahead of Beck.

A second behind was Olympic champion and five-kilometer world champion Cunha.

Beck competed as a pool swimmer at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

She was eliminated in the 800 meter freestyle.

Since things didn't go as planned in the pool, the woman from Würzburg switched to open water.

In the outdoor sport, which depends not only on speed and endurance, but also on tactical finesse, experience and assertiveness, she had a hard time at the beginning.

That is past.

At the World Championships in South Korea in 2019 she won bronze over five kilometers and at the Olympics in Tokyo she was very satisfied with fifth place.

kjo/dpa/sid