Russia Picks up Three Golds at Junior Open Water World Championships
Russian swimmers picked up three gold medals and four total medals at the Junior Open Water World Championships on Friday.
It was a Russian 1-2 in the 14- and 15-year-old 5-kilometer race in Santa Fe, Argentina, with Kira Guseva topping countrywoman Anastasiia Siniakova. Kseniia Misharina won the 7.5-km race for 16- and 17-year-olds, while 15-year-old Alan Nosov took home that division’s 5K race.
The men’s 7.5k race was an all-Hungarian affair, with Balint Kreisz and Armand Marosszeki going 1-2.
Women’s 7.5 km
Misharina took the race out fast and needed every bit of the 55-second lead she built at the halfway point. She clocked in at 1 hour, 29 minutes, 22.50 seconds, just 3.3 seconds up on American Brinkleigh Hansen.
Misharina added to a pair of medals in the pool at the 2025 World Junior Championships, where she took silver in the 1,500 free and bronze in the 800.
“Going out hard was my only chance,” Misharina told World Aquatics. “My pool speed is the main reason I was able to start faster. This is my first gold at the World Junior Championships, so I am very happy and I know my team is happy too.”
The field closed on her but left a little too much gap to close. Hansen was in the middle of three swimmers astride entering the finishing straight and got her hand to the board first in 1:29:25.80. She was four tenths up on Olivia Galea of Australia. Hungary’s Kitti Kammerer missed the podium by eight tenths in fourth.
For Hansen, the 2024 Junior Open Water World Championships winner, this result was one she was happy with given that she suffered a concussion two weeks ago that disrupted her preparation.
“I really haven’t been able to build back and really do what I normally do, so that was really hard mentally,” she said. “But the whole staff back in Colorado kept checking up on me and giving me so much support. I wouldn’t have been here without them because of everything they do for me – they don’t get enough credit.”
The gap would be nearly eight seconds to Spain’s Carlota Del Rio Decabo in fifth. American Alex Siegel placed seventh.
Women’s 5 km
The women’s 5K race wasn’t much of one, thanks to Guseva charging out of the blocks. She won in 59 minutes, 12.70 seconds, her margin nearly a minute and a half over Siniakova.
“I’m very happy because I prepared for this for a long time and worked hard, it’s been a dream of mine,” Guseva said to World Aquatics. “Today is my grandmother’s birthday, so I think I did it for her.”
Third place went to Argentina’s Sofia Ovalles in front of home fans. She was a half-second behind Siniakova but 33 seconds up on American Grace Gannon, who finished fourth.
“I can hardly believe it – it feels like a dream,” Ovalles said. “I never thought I’d do this well, but I was confident; I thought about it a lot, visualized it constantly, and really wanted to make the podium for Argentina.”
Men’s 7.5 km
Just as they did at the European Junior Championships, Kreisz and Marosszeki occupied the top two steps on the podium for Hungary.
Kreisz won the sprint for the line, his time of 1:23.26.00 beating Morosszeki by 1.4 seconds. The top four were separated but just 1.6 seconds, with Bo Ling Su of Chinese Taipei getting to the board just ahead of Greece’s Konstantinos Chourdakis for the bronze medal.
It’s the first medal for the island ever at the Open Water World Junior Championships.
Men’s 5 km
Russia’s Nosov made quick work of the field in the 14-15 race with a time of 55:59.40. he was 37 seconds ahead of Sawyer Hansen, who clinched the family’s second medal of the day.
“This was the first time my little brother and both my parents got to watch me compete internationally, so it was really special,” Brinkleigh Hansen said of the day.
Turkey’s Ibrahim Bruhan, who had been on the wrong side of a touch to land off the podium in fourth at the European Junior Championships, got on the podium this time in third. He was 1.6 seconds behind Hansen and 2.1 ahead of South Africa’s Carter Markgraaff.
American Porter DeBruin was eighth, a spot ahead of Kinan Jasem Radhe of Canada.
