The German team consisting of Christian Reichert, Rob Muffels and Isabelle Franziska Harle won the mixed 5 km team event in Kazan by over 16 seconds.
Reichert, who finished 18th in the men’s 10 km event was the fastest of the three Germans finishing in a time of 55:10.9. Muffels, who took the silver in the men’s 5 km event, finished in a time 55:12.1 while Harle, who placed seventh in the women’s 10 km posted a time of 55:14.4.
resulting in a team time of 55:14.4.
Reichert and Harle were both part of the German team that won gold at the 2013 World Championships.
The Brazilian and Dutch teams both finished in the same time of 55:31.2 with the Brazilian team coming away with the silver based on the judge’s decision.
The Brazilian team was made up of Diogo Villarinho, Ana Marcela Cunha and Allan Do Carmo.
The Duth team was comprised of Marcel Schouten, Sharon van Rouwendaal and Ferry Weertman.
Each team in the mixed 5 km team event consists of two men and one women, each of who swim the 5 km distance.
Full results can be found here.
Yes this is a real sport. Just like team time trials in cycling this is all about working as a team to get the last person across with the fastest time. Its actually somewhat disappointing to see a 3.5 second difference across the team means that the leading men may not have done enough work over the course of the race to allow for a great sprint by their female team mate. Or they left her too early giving her more distance to cover solo.
Is it just me or is this “event” simply 3 times as boring as individual open water swimming? Yawn times 3!