'One of the hardest courses I've ever swum': Competitors feel Sentosa heat at World Aquatics Championships

SINGAPORE: The water quality off the Sentosa coast has been under the microscope in recent days, but it was factors such as the afternoon heat which proved brutal for competitors in the men's 10km open water race on Wednesday (Jul 16) in the World Aquatics Championships.

The race was won by Germany's Florian Wellbrock, while Italy's Gregorio Paltrinieri took silver and Australia's Kyle Lee clinched the bronze after seeing off Germany's Oliver Klemet.

A total of 11 competitors did not finish the race including Singapore's Ritchie Oh, three did not start, and five recorded times that were over the allocated time limit.

In comparison, the last world championships in Doha had one competitor who did not finish and one with a time over the allocated time limit.

According to World Aquatics regulations, the water temperature in an open water swimming competitions should be a minimum of 16 degrees Celsius and a maximum of 31 degrees Celsius.

In response to queries from CNA, organisers said that the official water temperature reading for the men's race was 30.4 degrees Celsius.

"To be honest, it was tough today," said Wellbrock, who was the 2020 Olympic champion in the event. This is his third open water world title after wins in 2019 and 2023.

"I think it was the warmest water ever that we've had to race in. But we had like one year to prepare for this, we did a lot of heat training and I think this was the key for today to take the gold."

Hungary's Kristof Rasovszky, who was the reigning champion and 2024 Olympics champion in the event, described it as one of the "hardest" races he's competed in given factors such as the heat and the choppy conditions.

"It's a really challenging experience but it was all the same for everyone. So you