August
10, 2003
Russians rule A.C. swim
Yuri Kudinov wins 22.5-mile race by 50 seconds; Natalia
Pankina first female finishers
By BILL LeCONEY Staff Writer, (609) 272-7187, E-Mail
ATLANTIC CITY - The 50th anniversary Atlantic City Around
the Island Swim provided chilly and choppy currents, a
thrilling finish and a Russian sweep.
Yuri Kudinov of Russia won the 221/2-mile marathon in a
close call, overtaking Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria in the
back-bay stretch and holding on for a 50-second victory.
Natalia Pankina was the first female finisher, giving the
Russian endurance specialists a sweep in their first
attempts at the harrowing trek around Absecon Island.
"Good, but very tired," Kudinov described his
physical and mental state after surviving the 37-kilometer
race through cold (mid-60s) water and strong currents.
"This is the biggest distance I've ever swam in my
life. Before I swam only 30 kilometers or less. In the
ocean, it was very big waves and very cold water. In the
(back bay) it was very nice, very flat, but four kilometers
from the finish, the water is very, very, cold again."
By that point, Kudinov had already taken over the lead from
Stoychev, who led through much of the seven-mile ocean leg,
around the Longport jetty and about half of the 13-mile
back-bay leg. Kudinov stroked past Stoychev just after the
Atlantic City Expressway bridge and never looked back, even
when Stoychev made a late charge to get within about 10
meters near the Brigantine Bridge.
Kudinov's winning time was 7 hours, 36 minutes, 34 seconds,
far from the sub-seven hour records set for both the
traditional and reverse (counter-clockwise) course in the
past four years.
It was the closest finish in the race since 1979, when Jim
Barry nipped Sid Cassidy by four seconds.
But Kudinov and Stoychev have had even tighter finishes, and
very recently. Three weeks ago, at the FINA World
Championship 25-kilometer race in Barcelona, Spain, Kudinov
beat Stoychev by six-tenths of a second to win his fourth
straight 25K world title.
"It doesn't matter if you lose by two seconds or two
minutes," said Stoychev. "It's the same, very
disappointing."
Stoychev, in his fifth attempt at the Atlantic City swim,
said he made a tactical error in the back bay by swimming
too far from shore, where the current was stronger.
"The others were nearer to the shore," he said.
"Unfortunately, I lost my advantage too easily. When
you're leading by almost three minutes and you lose it that
easily, it hurts you mentally."
By the time Stoychev realized his mistake, it was too late.
"The last 31/2 miles, it was very hard to catch up
because of the current," he said. "I tried to
catch him under the (Brigantine Bridge), but I wasn't strong
enough at that time. It's a very tricky race."
Kudinov, 24, and Pankina, 20, were both first-time
competitors in the Atlantic City race, which is part of the
FINA World Cup marathon circuit. They each earned $5,000
from the $30,000 race purse, as well as 20 points toward the
end-of-the-year World Cup rankings.
Pankina won the women's race in 8:01:12, seventh overall and
better than four minutes ahead of Germany's Angela Maurer,
the second-place female.
"It was a very hard race because of the cold water and
the different tides," Pankina said through an
interpreter. "I came here with expectations to
win."
Kudinov and Pankina came to Atlantic City earlier in the
week with very little knowledge of the area. They flew into
New York and arrived by bus in Atlantic City at 3 a.m. on
Monday, armed only with the name and phone number of race
director Michael Giegerich.
"The police called me and said these Russians were at
the bus station and all they had was my name and
number," Giegerich said. "So we got over there and
they hadn't eaten for 24 hours, so I took them to Denny's at
4 a.m."
Now, besides the location of a late-night restaurant, they
also know their way around Absecon Island.
NOTES: Argentinians Rafael Perez and Gabriel Chaillou
finished third and fourth overall, respectively. Defending
men's champion Igor Majcen of Slovenia was fifth, and
defending women's champion Shelley Clarke of Australia was
11th overall, fourth among the women professionals. ...
Veteran Claudio Plit of Argentina, 48, completed his 19th
Around the Island Swim in 9:25:31. ... Two of the
professional swimmers - Josh Santacaterina of Australia and
Jure Bucar of Slovenia - did not finish the race because of
medical problems. ... Rendy Lynn Opdycke of Mercer Island,
Wash., a student at the University of San Diego, was the
only amateur to complete the race, finishing in 9:18:18.
To e-mail Bill LeConey at The Press:
WLeconey@pressofac.com
Male professionals
Yuri Kudinov, Russia - 7:36:34
Petar Stoychev, Bulgaria - 7:37:24
Rafael Perez, Argentina - 7:42:23
Gabriel Chaillou, Argentina - 7:42:23
Igor Majcen, Slovenia - 7:54:47
Mark Saliba, Australia - 7:59:16
Damian Blaum, Argentina - 8:14:27
Jane Karajovanov, Macedonia - 8:39:11
Claudio Plit, Argentina - 9:25:31
Sean Seaver, U.S.A. - 9:30:39
Attila Manyoki, Hungary - 10:07:53
Josh Santacaterina, Australia - DNF
Jure Bucar, Slovenia - DNF
Female professionals
Natalia Pankina, Russia - 8:01:12
Angela Maurer, Germany - 8:05:27
Britta Kamrau, Germany - 8:14:01
Shelley Clark, Australia - 8:25:03
Maria Celeste Punet, Argentina -8:30:07
Lauren Arndt, Australia - 8:42:18
Teodora Raptis, Macedonia - 8:44:46
Irene Van Der Laan, Netherlands - 9:39:45
Melissa Doyle, Canada - 10:02:13
Yuko Matsuzaki, Japan - 10:17:26
Emily Watts, USA - 10:29:14
Amateurs
Rendy Lynn Opdycke, USA. - 9:18:18
Minerva Martinez, Mexico - DNF
Joseph Wolf, USA. - DNF
Trish Lane, USA. - DNF
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