Pictured: Katie Grimes (Credit: Mike Lewis)

A sunny day at Hungary’s Lupa Lake Beach was the setting for today’s FINA World Open Water Championships 10K. A quartet of Americans took to the water and saw Katie Grimes post a historic result in American open water swimming.
 
Throughout laps 2-4 of the women’s 10K, the top three swimmers were Ana Marcela Cunha (BRA), the reining Olympic champion in the 10K; Aurelie Muller (FRA), the three-time open water world champion; and Grimes, the 16-year-old American making her FINA World Open Water Championships debut.

Amidst the decorated resumes, Grimes held her own – even pulling into first by more than a body length at roughly the half-way point of the race.

“It (swimming against a decorated field) definitely has its pros and cons,” Grimes said. “You can learn a lot but they are certainly not going to take it easy on you, so you have to learn from it.”

When all was said and done, Grimes touched in 2:02:37.2 for fifth. Only the open-water-veteran likes of the Netherlands’ Sharon Van Rouwendaal (gold), Germany’s Leonie Beck (silver), Marcela Cunha (bronze) and Muller finished ahead of the young American. 

Her fifth-place finish is the second-best showing by an American in the women’s 10K in FINA World Open Water Championships history, only behind American open-water icon Haley Anderson, who won silver in the event in 2019.

“I’m pretty happy with it (the result),” Grimes added. “It was a pretty tough race. I kind of had a plan in my head going into it and just tried to execute it to the best of my ability. I learned a lot and just kind of had fun out there.” 

Grimes was followed by U.S. teammate Mariah Denigan, who touched in 15th to give her the third top-15 result in a senior-level, international 10K on her career. 

“I feel really good about that,” Denigan said. “Top-15 in the world in my first Worlds, I’m really excited about that. I was getting a little stuck after the fourth lap – I felt really good but then it felt like I was wasting a bit of emotional energy trying to get around four girls who were not letting me through. I fought hard and I feel good about that result.”

The men’s event featured the Gravley brothers, Brennan and Dylan, donning the USA cap. The two of them stayed in the same pack for the majority of the race, hovering around 10-15th place, before eventually seeing Brennan finish 12th followed one spot later by Dylan. 

“Sometimes I kept an eye on him,” Brennan said of swimming alongside his brother during the race. “I was just trying to stay in contact with that lead group, and I honestly thought he did a much better job with that than I did – I kind of had a couple of times when I started to fall back. It’s always comforting to see him during the race, and I think it was super helpful.”

The swim is Brennan’s third event (and top-15 finish) of the competition, while Dylan made his open water worlds debut. 

“The swim was very up-and-down,” Dylan Gravley added. “There were some spots where I was really hurting and there were other spots where I was cruising. It was very sporadic – more sporadic than I’m used to. 

“Usually at domestic meets, it is more straight-line and single-file, but here, there is a lot of movement. But being here with the team, I think it helped me race faster, especially seeing the relay guys and the 5K guys go throw down and do what they needed to do. It got me hyped up."

The competition concludes tomorrow with the men’s and women’s 25K, which will kick off at 1 a.m. and 1:10 a.m. ET, respectively. 

For results, storylines, athlete bios and more, head to www.usaswimming.org/2022Worlds.