Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Anderson, Twichell Finish Sixth and Seventh in #TokyoOlympics 10K
The fourth-ever Olympic women’s 10K took place this Tokyo morning at the Odaiba Marine Park, just south of Tokyo. The U.S. was represented by decorated open-water swimmers Haley Anderson (Granite Bay, Calif./Mission Viejo Nadadores) and Ashley Twichell (Cary, N.C./TAC Titans), who finished in sixth and seventh, respectively.
After the first of seven rectangular laps, Twichell found herself in second place while Anderson entered in 11th. As the first lap carried into the second, both Americans started picking up tempo and climbing the ranks, seeing Twichell hold a first-place spot while Anderson was in fourth as the field entered lap two.
“In the back end of the first lap, I got caught right in the middle of the pack,” Twichell said. “From then, I knew that that’s not where I wanted to be in the race, so then I kind of found myself in the lead – that’s where I’m most comfortable swimming open water and is where I’ve always felt most comfortable. I felt really strong, and I knew there was a big pack behind me most of the way.”
Twichell and Brazil’s Anna Marcela Cunha traded leads at the beginning of each of the next two laps, as one would take the feed while the other bypassed. As they passed the beginning point of the fourth lap, Twichell reclaimed first place while Anderson remained in fourth. Their positions held strong until the beginning of the final lap, when Twichell had moved to fourth followed by Anderson in seventh.
As the race entered its final stretch, the top-3 started to separate itself from the pack, seeing Cunha surge ahead and eventually touch first for gold, followed by the Netherlands’ Sharon Van Rouwendaal and Australia’s Kareena Lee for silver and bronze. Anderson’s sixth-place finish came in 1:59:36.9 (4.4 seconds from a podium finish) while Twichell touched in 1:59:37.9 (5.4 seconds from a podium finish).
“It was a pretty tough race,” Anderson said. “All those girls are competitive every single day, so you never really know who is going to be at the top. It always changes (but) it’s pretty much the same handful of girls. Today just wasn’t my day, but it was a great race and I was up there until the end, so I was really happy with how it turned out.”
With their appearances, Anderson competes in her third Olympic 10K, while Twichell becomes just the fourth American to ever swim the event at an Olympic Games.
The Olympic appearance adds to an incredible list of open water accolades the two have already posted: 10 combined open water world championships medals, 12 combined open water national tiles and appearances in the 10K at four combined Pan Pacific Championships. Now, they get to say they were teammates at the Olympic Games together.
“I was really excited, I saw her up there the whole time and she looked great,” Anderson said of racing with Twichell. “I was so excited for her to be here. To qualify together was something I had wanted for a long time for her . . . She has helped me so much over the years – we’ve done some training camps together and trained a lot together and race all the time, so to be here with her was really exciting.”
For Twichell, this was the last swim of her competitive career.
“It was always my plan to retire after Tokyo,” Twichell said. “It obviously got pushed back a year, which wasn’t the plan, but I’ve had a great career and I’m ready to move on.”
Competition resumes tomorrow with the men’s 10K event, featuring U.S. National Team member Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./KSwim), beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. Fans can follow the race live by clicking here.
After the first of seven rectangular laps, Twichell found herself in second place while Anderson entered in 11th. As the first lap carried into the second, both Americans started picking up tempo and climbing the ranks, seeing Twichell hold a first-place spot while Anderson was in fourth as the field entered lap two.
“In the back end of the first lap, I got caught right in the middle of the pack,” Twichell said. “From then, I knew that that’s not where I wanted to be in the race, so then I kind of found myself in the lead – that’s where I’m most comfortable swimming open water and is where I’ve always felt most comfortable. I felt really strong, and I knew there was a big pack behind me most of the way.”
Twichell and Brazil’s Anna Marcela Cunha traded leads at the beginning of each of the next two laps, as one would take the feed while the other bypassed. As they passed the beginning point of the fourth lap, Twichell reclaimed first place while Anderson remained in fourth. Their positions held strong until the beginning of the final lap, when Twichell had moved to fourth followed by Anderson in seventh.
As the race entered its final stretch, the top-3 started to separate itself from the pack, seeing Cunha surge ahead and eventually touch first for gold, followed by the Netherlands’ Sharon Van Rouwendaal and Australia’s Kareena Lee for silver and bronze. Anderson’s sixth-place finish came in 1:59:36.9 (4.4 seconds from a podium finish) while Twichell touched in 1:59:37.9 (5.4 seconds from a podium finish).
“It was a pretty tough race,” Anderson said. “All those girls are competitive every single day, so you never really know who is going to be at the top. It always changes (but) it’s pretty much the same handful of girls. Today just wasn’t my day, but it was a great race and I was up there until the end, so I was really happy with how it turned out.”
With their appearances, Anderson competes in her third Olympic 10K, while Twichell becomes just the fourth American to ever swim the event at an Olympic Games.
The Olympic appearance adds to an incredible list of open water accolades the two have already posted: 10 combined open water world championships medals, 12 combined open water national tiles and appearances in the 10K at four combined Pan Pacific Championships. Now, they get to say they were teammates at the Olympic Games together.
“I was really excited, I saw her up there the whole time and she looked great,” Anderson said of racing with Twichell. “I was so excited for her to be here. To qualify together was something I had wanted for a long time for her . . . She has helped me so much over the years – we’ve done some training camps together and trained a lot together and race all the time, so to be here with her was really exciting.”
For Twichell, this was the last swim of her competitive career.
“It was always my plan to retire after Tokyo,” Twichell said. “It obviously got pushed back a year, which wasn’t the plan, but I’ve had a great career and I’m ready to move on.”
Competition resumes tomorrow with the men’s 10K event, featuring U.S. National Team member Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./KSwim), beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET. Fans can follow the race live by clicking here.