Swimming | Germany wins world open-water relay, Italy 2nd and US 3rd

Germany won the mixed 5-kilometer open water team relay at the world swimming championships in a close finish over Italy and the United States yesterday.

The German quartet of Lea Boy, Sarah Kohler, Soeren Meissner and Rob Muffels finished in a time of 53 minutes, 58.70 seconds.

Italy, with Rachele Bruni, Giulia Gabbrielleschi, Domenico Acerenza and Gregorio Paltrinieri, was two-tenths of a second behind in a time of 53.58.90.

Haley Anderson, Jordan Wilimovsky, Ashley Twichell and Michael Brinegar made up the American team which finished just three-tenths of a second behind Germany to take bronze in 53:59.00.

There are two males and two females on each team who swim 1.25 kilometers each, but the order in which they swim is up to the individual country.

The German team, anchored by Muffels, was disadvantaged by a yellow card issued to Boy in the leadoff leg. A second yellow card would have resulted in disqualification, so each of the German swimmers needed to be careful of their tactics for the rest of the race.

Muffels was a member of the German team that won the same event in Kazan, Russia four years ago.

“I think each of us did a really good job, it was a perfect strategy,” Muffels said of the decision to lead off with two female swimmers. “The conditions were quite good with some little waves, and they were not too big or challenging.”

Twichell swam third for the Americans. AP