Good results for María de Valdés in the women’s 5 km open water final at the Doha World Championships. Although the Fuengirola swimmer could not repeat last Saturday’s podium, when she won silver in the 10 km, this time she placed sixth, competing among the best in the world. For her part, the Spanish Candela Sánchez was 17th and Guillem Pujol, 21st in the men’s category.
The great champion of the day was the Dutch Sharon van Rouwendaal, who already had gold in the 10k open water race, and who won the final phase of the 5k race to come first again. In this way, Van Rouwendaal was ahead of the Australian Chelsea Gubecka and the legendary Brazilian Ana Marcela Cunha in the race that was held in the old port of Doha.
The race was very fast, with the favorites always in the lead, imposing their pace and without the possibility of opening a gap. Among them was De Valdés, who was always in the first places, but who could not resist the grand finale of the Dutch, the Australian and the Brazilian, gold in the last Tokyo Games and who has accumulated four more World Cup titles.
With a water temperature of 20 degrees and some current, the race was launched from the beginning. With Gubecka and the American Katie Grimes always setting the tone. Always attentive De Valdés, who transferred his good feelings from the 10k to the 5k, and even though he did not have a good night, due to stomach problems and also in his rib, due to a blow suffered during the first race.
Also among the top fifteen was Candela Sánchez, a little further from the lead, but always in a good position. As the buoys passed, more swimmers were added to the front pack, such as the French Oceane Cassignol and Caroline Jouisse, the Italian Julia Gabbrielleschi and the Brazilian Viviane Jungblut.
Gubecka tried to escape two buoys from the end, as did the American Grimes, but van Rouwendaal was the one who controlled the race, making sure that no one gained meters of distance. She knew that in a tight final, she had everything to win, and so it was.
The passage through the last buoy was decisive. Gubecka and Grimes passed first, followed by Cunha, De van Rouwendaal and María de Valdés, who did not take the appropriate line and began to complicate her medal options.
As soon as the Dutchwoman pressed, she felt superior. Gubecka relented and Cunha progressed, but she did not have any options in the end. Van Rouwendaal’s victory was incontestable in a race that gave him his second gold in a few days in open water, adding to the silver in the 5k at the last World Cup in Fukuoka.
De Valdés showed that he is in a great moment, that he can compete with the best and he felt very good, although he paid for the misrouting at the last buoy. “It was a very fast race from the beginning and I tried to be in the front group, but in the end I couldn’t. That final sprint is what it cost me to be among the top five,” he told EFE at the end of the race. the malagueña race.
De Valdés admitted that he did not take the last buoy correctly and that is why he has lost his medal options. “I am left with the feeling that I can compete against the best, that I want to continue adding. By being constant I hope to do my best in the other races,” he insisted.
The other Spaniard, Candela Sánchez, was seventeenth and was satisfied because her objective was to improve the result of the last World Cup and she achieved it.
“I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my head and it turned out quite well. I had to start quickly to be there with the best and then hold on as long as possible. It went well, I started quickly, but then the group was stretched and I have stayed a little, something that always happens to me. I have to work a little more on this, but I am improving,” he summarized.
Regarding the men’s category, the only Spanish participant, Guillem Pujol, was twenty-first. Logan Fontaine and Marc-Antoine Olivier showed France’s dominance by winning the gold and silver medals, in a race not included in the Olympic program and in which the Italian Domenico Acerenza completed the podium.
