Australia’s open water swimming ace Chelsea Gubecka has landed another world championship silver medal, losing out on 5km gold in Doha only after a thrilling duel with double champion Sharon van Rouwendaal.
Queenslander Gubecka, who took silver at the 2023 championships in Fukuoka over 10km, took the fight to the Dutch all-time great over the last of three laps around the old port in the Qatari capital on Wednesday, only to be overhauled by van Rouwendaal’s electric burst over the last 150 metres.
Attacking from the front, 25-year-old Gubecka was still more than a body length ahead of van Rouwendaal turning into the final dash for the finishing boards.
Yet the Dutch former Olympic champion turned on the afterburners to power ahead and win by just over a second, clocking 57min 33.9sec to complete the golden double after her weekend 10km triumph.
Even at the finish, Gubecka had the strength to battle back towards van Rouwendaal and hold off the challenge of eventual bronze medallist Ana Marcela Cunha as she finished with a flourish in 57:35.0.
Gubecka’s Dolphin teammate Bianca Crisp ended 24th of the 65-strong field, in 59:06.00.
“It was harder than I thought to sit and watch the 10km earlier this week so it really great to get out there,” said Gubecka, who had decided to sit out the ‘marathon’ race to concentrate on ocean swimming’s ‘sprint’ with Paris in mind.
“Today’s result cements that what we are doing at home is right, so I’m really happy to walk away with a silver … Sharon (van Rouwendaal) is such a class act … and there’s one race to go for us.”
The open water program finishes with the mixed 4×1.5km mixed relay on Thursday, with Gubecka likely to swim alongside Moesha Johnson, who finished fourth in the 10km event, Kyle Lee and Nicholas Sloman in a strong quartet.
In the men’s 5km, Dolphins newcomer Robert Thorpe (51:59.1) stayed in touch with the lead pack to finish 16th with Bailey Armstrong (53:23.5) ending up 23rd.