Paula Otero and Candela Sánchez finish seventh and ninth in the 3-kilometer sprint eliminatory final

 The Spanish swimmers Paula Otero and Candela Sánchez have finished in seventh and ninth position, respectively, in the three-kilometer final of the open water sprint eliminator of the European Aquatic Sports Championships, which is being held in Paris, while in the men’s competition Mateo García fell just short of the final and Mario Méndez was eliminated in the first round.

In the waters of the Seine River, Otero and Sánchez managed to reach the final race, where only Spain and the host France have managed to put more than one swimmer in the ‘Top 10’ – two from Spain and three from France.

In the final, the German Isabel Gose dominated without opposition, winning the gold medal by crossing the finish line with a time of 6:41.0, three seconds ahead of the Hungarian Bettina Fabian (6:44.1). Italian Ginevra Taddeucci, double European champion, took bronze (6:44.8).

The competition began with the two qualifying heats in an exciting 1,500 meters. In series 1, Paula Otero and Clara Martínez de Salinas finished fifth and seventh, while in the second Candela Sánchez finished fifth, out of ten places in each heat.

Already in the first semifinal, over 1,000 meters and minutes later, Otero got in the middle, pulled her arm and reached fifth place – the last place to access the final – by four tenths against the Russian Polina Koziakina, while Martínez de Salinas was eliminated. In the second, Sánchez remained attentive in the final funnel and achieved fifth place, which gave her access to the very final.

In the men’s category, Mateo García and Mario Méndez were unable to compete for the medals. García, fourth in his first round series, was on the verge of the final by being seventh in the semifinals (10:59.8), two places away from the ticket. Méndez, for his part, fell in the preliminary due to ‘photo-finish’ after being twelfth in the same series as his compatriot (15:37.3).

The Hungarian David Betlehem, runner-up in the five and ten kilometer events, finally won gold by stopping the clock in the final in 6:12.9, ahead of the French Marc-Antoine Olivier (6:16.2) and Logan Fontaine (6:16.4).

The competition was surrounded by controversy surrounding the quality of the water of the Seine River. Thursday’s training was canceled after fuel was detected in the river. However, the most recent water quality measurements showed that no limit values ​​had been exceeded. After an additional visual inspection on Friday morning, the tests were authorized to take place.