Swimming

Australia Wins Mixed 4x1500m Relay in Funchal to Close out 2023 Open Water World Cup

December 4, 2023

2023 World Aquatics Open Water World Cup – Mixed 4 x 1500m

December 2-3, 2023
Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
Final Stop of the 2023 Series
Livestream
Results

Full Race, Courtesy of World Aquatics:

The final event of the 2023 World Aquatics Open Water World Cup took place on Sunday, and it was the mixed 4 x 1500m relay. The individual 10k races took place Saturday and you can read about each of those swims here:

Moesha Johnson took the first leg out strongly for the Aussies, handing over a convincing 20 second lead to world championship silver medalist Chelsea Gubecka. This was no surprise, as Johnson is an experienced pool swimmer in this same distance. Johnson finished in 4th place at the 2022 World Championships in the 1500m free, posting a 15:55.75 in the process. She also placed 10th in the individual 5km distance at last summer’s World Championships in Fukuoka.

Gubecka did her job on the second leg, expanding the lead by an additional 10 seconds heading into the second exchange. Gubecka is no stranger to the open water scene, as she was a two-time medalist at the World Championships last summer. There, she collected an individual silver medal in the 10km as well as a bronze medal in the team event.

On the back two legs of the race, Bailey Armstrong and Kyle Lee did everything they could to hold the lead for the Aussies. Armstrong touched at the end of his leg just 5 seconds ahead of Italy, as Olympic Champion Gregorio Paltrinieri had a monster leg to make up 25 seconds on the Australians. Domenico Acerenza, who won the men’s individual 10km distance yesterday, tried to catch Lee down the backstretch. He ultimately came up one second short, as Lee held on to get the final touch (1:06:05.40) – exactly one second ahead of the Italians.

France had a strong back half to the race, overtaking Portugal to grab 3rd. Their team consisted of Aurelie Muller, Carolina Laure Jouisse, Sacha Velly, and Logan Fontaine.

The Australians will take home $5,000 USD for their victory, while the Italians ($3,000 USD) and French ($2,000 USD) also earned a sum of money. Note that the money is a split pot, meaning each team will split the earnings rather than each team member receiving the full amount.

Full Results: