Life time best for Victoria’s Richard Weinberger

Story from Swimming Canada website.

ROBERVAL– Italy’s Valerio Cleri took the World title in the Men’s 10km open water race today that the 6e FINA World Championships in Roberval, Quebec.

Russia’s Evgeny Drattsev and Vladimir Dyatchin took the second and third positions to end one of the most dramatic open water races of the year.

Canadian Richard Weinberger of Victoria produced a solid 13th place finish, securing a spot on Canada’s Pan Pacific Championships team.

“I’m really happy with my race today,” said Weinberger, 20 years of age. “It was my best race ever, and to do this type of performance a year before the Olympic qualifier is very encouraging.”

“I had a smooth and steady race up until 7 kilometres,” added Weinberger. “I made sure to save some energy so I could increase my stroke rate and use my legs to catch up to the lead pact during the last sprint. My strategy worked and I cracked the top 15.”

The event started off with slightly colder conditions than the previous day with a few clouds and a slight breeze, yet spectators welcomed the intermittent sunrays. Water temperature was reported at 17.5 degrees Celsius and 16 degrees at each turn end.

“The race was a bit rough,” said Simon Tobin of Quebec City who finished with a 17th overall placing. “The cold was a factor and also a few involuntary hits made it hard to catch up.”

Tobin’s main event is the 25km. “I have higher expectations for the 25km, but this race gives me a good idea of what I need to do to in terms of race strategy.”

The first loop of four saw a tight pact with swimmers racing at a slightly slower pace than the women’s 10k from the previous day. The pact narrowed as soon as they crossed the 2.5 kilometre mark, with Charles Peterson of the US in lead.

Canadians Simon Tobin of Quebec closely trailed in 26th place while Richard Weinberger of Victoria, was 30th.

After 45 minutes into the race, the top three started to break out of the pact by increasing their rhythm. The pact closed in after crossing the feeding station and stayed this way for most of the race.

At the half way mark, Igor Chervynskiy of Ukraine seem to hold on to the lead, followed by Italian Luca Ferretti and American Charles Peterson. At that point, five swimmers had to withdraw from the race because of water temperatures.

“You saw several swimmers having to abandon the race because they weren’t able to adapt the colder conditions here in Lac St-Jean,” said Pierre Lafontaine, CEO and National Coach for Swimming Canada. “It’s hard to go the long distances with these types of conditions when you’re only used to a pool setting.”

With one lap to go, Charles Peterson of the US and Bernard Venturi of France were side by side crossing the line, but a few meters later, Italy’s Luca Ferretti made his move taking the lead. The 3-time World champion Thomas Lurtz of Germany climbed the ranks quickly joining the front of the pact but was not able to catch up to front to claim his fourth world title.

A total of seven swimmers did not finish the race and two were disqualified.

The competition continues Tuesday with the Men’s and Women’s 5km.

Full results are available at www.roberval2010.com and live web streaming is available at www.radio-canada.ca/sports.