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Disclaimer: Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The Swim of the Week is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
American veteran Ashley Twichell had a remarkable victory in the women’s open water 10km at the Pan Am Games on Sunday, upsetting the reigning Olympic champion en route to her first major international gold medal in a decade.
Twichell was ready to retire from the sport after placing 7th in the 10km at the Tokyo Olympics, but after giving birth last year, she’s gradually been returning to competition and it all came to a head in the Laguna Los Morros in Santiago, Chile on the weekend.
The 34-year-old stormed to victory in a time of 1:57:16.4, topping Brazilian Ana Marcela Cunha, the Olympic gold medalist in the event two years ago, by 13 seconds.
Ashley Twichell, 34 anos de idade, sempre foi uma boa nadadora de águas abertas, sempre. Das melhores do mundo, mas a prova dela de hoje foi fora de série, diria que a prova da sua vida. pic.twitter.com/CxFaTDXSdQ
— Coach Alex Pussieldi (@alexpussieldi) October 29, 2023
The intermediate splits provided in the official results show that Twichell assumed the lead after the third split (out of eight, so less than 4km in) and held it throughout.
In fact, the splits indicate that Twichell negative-split the race, out in 58:51.1 after the fourth split and finishing in 1:57:16.4, meaning she closed in 58:25.3.
See the results (and top splits) here.
Twichell spoke about her experience in gradually returning to the water after initially being ready to hang things up after Tokyo.
“I was pretty ready to be done after the Games. I stayed in the water during pregnancy. And once I had my son, I really felt like I still needed something for myself,” she said after the victory. “And so I ended up getting back in the water in the mornings while my son was watching. My husband and I just really took it day by day and found myself back to training.”
“It is a sacrifice to be away from him, so really make the most of it, which I feel like I did today. To be able to race Ana Marcela was really special and an honor. The weather conditions weren’t ideal and it was wetsuit, which isn’t my favorite. But like I said, I really just try to enjoy every single race now.”
Twichell now has her eyes set on the Paris Olympics, where she’ll have a chance to book her ticket at the 2024 World Championships in Doha with Katie Grimes, half Twichell’s age at 17, having already sewn up one of the two American slots in the event after winning a medal at the 2023 Worlds.
Twichell told Reuters that the possibility of having her family accompany her at the Olympics is part of what’s driving her after the Tokyo Games were restricted for families due to COVID-19.
“That’s part of my motivation,” said Twichell. “Tokyo was amazing but it was tough having no family or friends able to come so it would definitely be really special to have them there.”
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