ABU DHABI // Jack Burnell and Aurelie Muller left their Rio Olympics disappointments behind by claiming the men’s and women’s gold medals respectively at the Fina 10-kilometre Marathon Swimming World Cup at the Emirates Palace hotel bay yesterday.
Both suffered what they considered to be harsh disqualifications at the Olympics.
The pair got the better of the Rio gold medallists Ferry Weertman and Sharon van Rouwendaal, both from the Netherlands.
“It’s a new start,” Burnell said. “I nearly left the sport because of the outrageous decisions and organisations of what Rio was.
“But I kind of thought to myself that I had to come back and prove to everyone I’m the best in the world. I want to prove that by winning everything that I can possibly can. And that’s the goal, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Burnell was runner-up twice in the Abu Dhabi event – last year behind Marc-Antoine Olivier and in 2015 behind Axel Reymond, when the event was first established.
“I always want to move forward,” he said clocking 1 hour, 45 minutes and 54.6 seconds to finish ahead of Weertman (1:45:54.9) and France’s David Aubrey (1:45:55.0).
For Weertman, it was his first podium finish in a World Cup race.
“I was in the back of the pack at the beginning but I worked my way up nicely,” he said. “I had a nice sprint at the end but my friend [Burnell] got their first.
“It’s my first race after Rio and my first podium in the World Cup, so I’m really happy with the result, and happy for him [Burnell]. It’s my second time in Abu Dhabi. I was eighth on that [earlier] occasion and this is a big improvement.”
The swimmers were closely grouped with Frances’ Axel Reymond in front and Burnell behind him when they headed for the final of six laps.
Burnell was the strongest as a bunch of swimmers made a dash to the finish.
The women’s event also saw a sprint finish with Muller edging out Van Rouwendaal and Arianna Bridi of Italy.
“After what happened in Rio, winning wasn’t in my mind when I travelled to Abu Dhabi,” Muller said, retaining her Abu Dhabi crown.
“I wanted to enjoy this outing, but it so happened I won. Obviously, I’m happy with the result. What I learnt from this race is that I haven’t lost my competitive edge and that’s good for me.
“I took a long break after Rio. I wanted to recover both mentally and physically, so I was not swimming for more than two months. Then I started very slowly with one session a week.”
Van Rouwendaal added: “I was aiming at a top-five finish and taking second spot was a good enough result. I want to take this momentum forward for the World Championships in Budapest [in July].”
apassela@thenational.ae
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