Weinberger Qualifies for Olympic 10km with Blistering Finish

Vikes and UVPCS Open Water swimmer Richard Weinberger qualified for the Olympic Games in Portugal this morning, capturing a silver medal in the 10 km qualifying race in a time of 1:45:30.2.

After a rough start where he lost his goggles, Weinberger slowly moved up in the pack.  At the first lap timed, he was in 49^th position, and nearly 30 seconds behind the leaders.  He gradually moved his way up the field to 5^th place with one lap to go. 

Both Weinberger and Oussama Mellouli, who won the race, had amazing finishes.  Weinberger managed to overtake the other three swimmers ahead of him for the silver medal as the front five dropped the rest of the field by 45 seconds.

Weinberger joins fellow open water swimmer Zsofi Balasz in qualification, marking a great weekend for Canadian Open Water Swimming.  Congrats to Richard!