The final event of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 kicked off early on a hot day at the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo, Japan with Jordan Wilimovsky (Malibu, Calif./KSwim) closing the swimming competition in tenth place with a time of 1:51:40.2.

“It was tough. I haven’t really seen the full results yet, but I was putting myself in a position to do well at the start and kind of give everything I had,” he said. “Unfortunately it just kind of blew up on the last two laps and I faded, but that’s all I had today.”

This race marked Wilimovsky’s second Olympic appearance in the 10k, following his fifth-place finish at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – the highest Olympic finish for an American man in this event.

Wilimovsky swam the majority of today’s race near the front of the second chase group but fell to the middle of the pack on lap five of seven, finishing 3:06.5 off gold medalist Florian Wellbrock of Germany. Wellbrock was at the front of the race from the very beginning and, with the exception of about two minutes during feedings, held the lead throughout.

While air temperatures were hot in the mid-80s, water temperatures also hovered near 85°F at race time – about five degrees warmer than a competition pool.

“It was hot, but we knew that was the case and prepared for that. I just went for it and got a little caught and faded at the end.”

Wilimovsky has been a leader in American men’s open water swimming, winning four open water world championship medals (one gold, two silver and one bronze), three Pan Pac medals (two gold, one silver) and three open water national championship titles throughout his career. 

The U.S. Olympic Swimming Team leaves Tokyo with 30 medals – 11 gold, 10 silver and nine bronze. All coverage on the U.S. Olympic Swimming Team can be found at www.usaswimming.org/Tokyo2020.