Beck's swimming hole in the Seine
Swimmer Leonie Beck missed the medal spots in the Seine's Olympic race by a significant margin. The gap to bronze was around two and a half minutes. The European champion had started as a co-favorite and was left somewhat bewildered afterwards.
Co-favorite Leonie Beck missed the medals in the Seine's Olympic open water swimming race. The double European champion, who had also won the World Cup double last year, finished ninth after ten kilometers in the Parisian river in 2:06:13.4 hours. Gold went to Dutch Rio Olympic champion and world champion Sharon van Rouwendaal, ahead of Australian Moesha Johnson and Italian Ginevra Taddeucci.
"I tried to swim as close as possible to the wall to have as little current as possible, but it was really two hours of strength, stroke for stroke," Beck said in the ARD: "It helps if you're muscular, but look at me, I'm a scrawny thing. I kissed the wall, but I don't know what I could have done differently."
Many discussions about the race
Beck, who lives and trains in Italy, was 2.5 minutes behind bronze. The Wurzburg native, who finished fifth three years ago in Tokyo, was already 50 seconds behind after the first of six rounds, but then caught up. However, Beck fell significantly behind in the fourth round. Olympic debutant Leonie Martens swam far behind and finished 22nd with over 12 minutes behind.
The water temperature was 23 degrees Celsius, and the current in the middle of the river was 0.8 meters per second. Downstream, the swimmers needed only six minutes for the 800 meters, but more than 13 minutes for the same distance against the current along the river wall.
There had been many discussions about the race beforehand due to the poor water quality. Training was canceled on Tuesday for this reason, but the course was approved the next day, with bacteria levels "in the green zone," according to DSV performance director Christian Hansmann. Martens jumped into the Seine with Tokyo Olympic champion Florian Wellbrock and Oliver Klemet, while Beck trained in the pool of the Georges Vellerey swimming hall. The green light was given three hours before the start based on the latest values.
Despite being a co-favorite for the Olympic Games 2024 in Paris, swimmer Leonie Beck narrowly missed out on a medal in the Seine's open water swimming race. Despite closing the gap to bronze after the first round, Beck ultimately finished ninth, expressing her disappointment and surprise at her performance.
The Olympic Games 2024 in Paris is a highly anticipated event, with many athletes, including Leonie Beck, training vigorously to compete. The poor water quality led to discussions and even the cancellation of training sessions on Tuesday, but the race eventually went ahead with the approval of the course.
