The Doha World Championships welcomed Sharon van Rouwendaal’s late push to victory in the 5km open water race, adding yet another gold medal to her already impressive collection. She caught up to and surpassed Chelsea Gubecka with only 150m left, securing the 5km crown alongside her previous 10km title.
Chelsea Gubecka had overtaken Van Rouwendaal just after the start of the second lap, but the Dutch athlete successfully managed to regain her position and finish her spectacular race in a time of 57:33.9. Gubecka secured the silver medal in 57:35.0, and Ana Marcela Cunha took the bronze in 57:36.8, marking her place on the podium once again at the World Championships. Van Rouwendaal’s triumph qualified her for the Paris 2024 Olympics following her earlier win on Saturday. This makes it her third world title, as she had previously been the runner-up in the 2023 World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup.
Reflecting on her race, Van Rouwendaal shared, “My body felt still good, I had some problems with my legs the last days but in the swim I felt strong again and I was like ‘okay, let’s push the pace, let’s see what I can do at the finish’. She further added, “I had so much energy left – that is the best.” The 30-year-old athlete emphasized her journey in open water swimming since 2014 and the valuable lessons she has learned from her past experiences. Her dedication and perseverance eventually led to her remarkable comeback and triumph in Doha.
On the other hand, Gubecka, who had secured a silver in the 10km event at the 2023 Fukuoka Worlds, had already qualified and now had to watch the 10km battle unfold from the sidelines. Nevertheless, she passionately claimed, “Sharon was just a little bit ahead of me there but I made sure I tried to stay in that front group knowing that my speeds pretty good, I knew I could give it a really good shake.” Speaking about the intense conditions, she shared, “I think in Australia, we get a lot of chop and swell. I personally love this sort of stuff and as you saw in the last lap, I thought I’d give it a crack and push that pace a little bit more. I just fell short of the finish there but I am just so stoked that I could put in a medal performance.”
