Maarten Van Der Weijden

German Thomas Lurz won the men's 5km Open Water competition at the World Championships here on Tuesday for the fifth time in a row. The Olympic bronze medallist at 10km continued the domination he has exerted over this event since 2005 in Montreal by pipping Greek Spyridon Gianniotis into second in a time of 56mins 27.2sec. Chad Ho of South Africa denied hosts Italy a medal as he took bronze ahead of Luca Ferretti. "It's always hard to be the favourite. The Russian girl (Larisa Ilchenko, who finished second in the women's event) also had won a lot of gold medals but this is ... Read Full Story

OSTIA, Italy (Reuters) - Valerio Cleri easily clinched the men's open water 25km world title Saturday to more than make up for missing a medal in the 10km race. The Italian won in five hours 26 minutes to roars of delight from the home crowd on Ostia beach, with Australia's Trent Grimsey second and Russian Vladimir Dyatchin a distant third. Cleri was fourth in Wednesday's 10km race but thought he had won bronze when third-placed Francis Crippen missed a gate. However, judges decided against disqualifying the American. Swimmers had to deal with especially large waves Saturday which pushed the buoys on the course close ... Read Full Story

German Thomas Lurz won the men's 5km open water competition at the World Championships here on Tuesday for the fifth time in a row. The Olympic bronze medallist at 10km continued the domination he has exerted over this event since 2005 in Montreal by pipping Greek Spyridon Gianniotis into second in a time of 56mins 27.2sec. Chad Ho of South Africa denied hosts Italy a medal as he took bronze ahead of Luca Ferretti. Lurz and Gianniotis pulled clear of a big group of leaders and in the final kilometre it was the German who had edged in front. Gianniotis put in a burst ... Read Full Story

The Dutch know how to throw a party. In 2000 in Sydney, the hottest Olympic ticket was not to the Opening or Closing Ceremonies. It was to Holland House beside Sydney Harbour where the parties were so festive and long that athletes from other countries clamoured to join in and one eventually had to produce a Dutch passport to gain entry into the evening’s Oranje festivities. This year in Beijing the Dutch are 10th in the medal pool and that is remarkable considering their normal swimming pool strength was trumped by the USA’s Michael Phelps and others. By the end of week one the ... Read Full Story

Some things seem impossible. Today, I read that a woman has walked faster than I could run, and in pouring rain, too. And a man who recovered from leukemia, swam faster and further than anyone could. World champion Olga Kaniskina of Russia battled through heavy rain in Beijing to set a new Olympic record of one hour 26 minutes and 31 seconds in the women's 20km race walking event. Kaniskina led from start to finish. She said the weather had not otherwise affected her performance. "It had no influence on me. It was better than a sunny and hot day. I didn't feel it ... Read Full Story