Pardoe finishes as best Brit at Open Water World Cup

22 May 2023

Hector Pardoe was the highest British finisher across the 10km events as the second leg of the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup took place in Sardinia over the weekend.

The competition - which served as the main selection event for this summer’s World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan - was a major race on the international stage, with a record number of athletes in the field across the men's and women's contests.

Pardoe’s finish of 12th in the Men’s 10km event - and 10th after the two-per-nation rule is applied - was the strongest of the weekend for the British team, as he looks to make a second consecutive World Championships and aiming to build on this performance ahead of a potential return to the Team GB squad for next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Hector was part of the chasing pack who came in just behind the top handful of swimmers – a group which he managed to get towards the front of down the final straight to finish with what was a solid performance. 

Considering the two-per-nation rule imposed on teams for major international events, Pardoe's performance moves him further-up the contextual table to tenth, with a great chance of getting amongst the leading pack once the race sets off this summer.

Joining Pardoe in the men’s event at Golfo Aranci were Nathan Hughes and Toby Robinson, with Hughes coming in as the next best British finisher in 37th place amongst what was a star-studded field. Robinson’s efforts saw him finish just behind Hughes in the same following pack of swimmers.

Joining the male trio out in the Italian commune were Ella Dyson, Leah Crisp, and Amber Keegan. In what were only the latter two athletes' second races at senior level, they were engaged in a hard midfield graft throughout the race, with Crisp ultimately holding her nerve to take 25th place, with Keegan just behind in 29th.

The two-per-nation rule bumps Crisp and Keegan up further to 17th and 20th respectively, with Dyson running into trouble which ultimately saw her having to withdraw mid-way through the race. The result is promising for the girls, who are all still relatively new to the marathon swimming world.

For the full results from the competition, click here.