Italian Women Dominate Ohrid Lake Open Water Grand Prix

It was all Italy last Saturday at the Ohrid Lake Open Water Grand Prix stop in Macedonia.

On the women’s side, all three medals went to Italians. For the men, Italian Edoardo Stochino was pushed out to fourth, with local and 2015 Ohrid Lake champion Evgenij Pop Acev nabbing the silver.

Women’s Medalists:

1. Barbara Pozzobon, ITA — 5:15.51
2. Alice Franco, ITA — 5:16.24
3. Martina Grimaldi, ITA — 5:22.20

Men’s Medalists:

1. Alexander Studzinzki, GER — 5:15.14
2. Evgenij Pop Acev, MKD — 5:15.15
3. Guillermo Bertola, ARG — 5:15.16

It was an incredibly close race for the men, with the top three finishers each arriving just a hundredth of a second behind each other, with fourth place finisher Stochino only .02 behind at 5:15.18. Most impressively, Pozzoban gave the men a run for their money. She was pleased with her performance:

The 33 kilometer swim was the third stop of four on the FINA Open Water Grand Prix circuit. The Italians will have a chance to close out their commanding run on home turf: the final stop will be a 36 kilometer swim from Naples to Capri Island on September 3rd.

Overall in the Grand Prix standings, Pozzobon handily leads the women with 41 points, followed by Franco and Grimaldi tied for second at 31. For the men, Pop Acev leads with 29 points, followed by Bertola with 24 and Studzinzki with 21.