Weinberger Finishes Great 10km At World Championships

The 14^th FINA World Championships for Open Water swimming are taking place this week in Shanghai, China.  With the Women racing yesterday, today was the Men’s turn at the 10km.  UVPCS’s own Richard Weinberger was one of the 68 swimmers competing.  The field was the biggest and strongest ever assembled for a 10km race.

The race started out slowly, with the main pack of about 30 emerging around the half-way point, Richard in its midst.  Weinberger remained with the pack the entire way, ending up in 17^th, only 26 seconds behind the winner, and with only 11 seconds separating him from the Top 10 Olympics pre-selection.  This ranks Richard 7^th out of the 15 Olympic spots still attainable in June 2012; Richard has also been invited to compete in the London Pre-Olympic Open Water Championships.      

Tomorrow, Richard will be racing in the inaugural 5km team race, a brand new event made up of a mixed team of 3 people, (most likely two men and one woman).

Look for updates on this story tomorrow, once we’ve spoken with Richard and his coach, Ron Jacks.