Stari Grad 2025: Incredible Italians Taddeucci and Paltrinieri headline 5km races on day two

Following Kristof Rasovszky and Viktoria Mihalyvari’s Hungarian double in the 10km events on day one, there was a positive atmosphere in the air in the bay of the Croatian island of Hvar that lent itself to those aspiring for the medals in the shorter three-lap race. 

Once again, it was the women who kicked off proceedings at the slightly later time of 10am, with the 26-strong field understandably showing much more urgency to get towards the front of the pack given the shorter distance. 

They went out four-abreast heading into the first buoy, with Italy’s Ginevra Taddeucci – the silver medallist from yesterday’s 10km event – moving up alongside Spain’s Maria De Valdes Alvarez and Mihalyvari, who looked strong using her pace from a recent career in pool swimming to then edge out in-front as the field converged into a single-file line towards the final straight of the first lap. 

At that buoy, and just before the first timing checkpoint, both Taddeucci and Hungarian Janka Juhasz made moves around the outside and inside respectively – ensuring that there was only one second to separate all three of them at the 1.66km stage, although the Italian was in-front on the timing screens. 

The three then began to put some clear water between them and the rest of the field, with the Olympic 10km bronze medallist from Paris 2024 still in-front, and visibly increasing her lead.  

With the main pack now reduced to 15 athletes, that lead was tested through Italy’s Giulia Gabbrielleschi, who put some pressure on Taddeucci and the Hungarian pairing, with the former responding with a near-doubling of her kick-count and moving to the outside of the field as the race reached the halfway stage.  

The increase in pace did seem to upset the field, which was now down to less than ten in that leading pack. The now-trademark double-prong formation for this course returned as they headed down the home straight in the second lap, and when they converged Taddeucci had two different contenders for the medals – in the form of the Spanish pairing of De Valdes Alvarez and Candela Sanchez Lora were the latest athletes to mount a challenge as the pace of the race saw a recycling of the order. 

The field once again seemed to find another gear as they approached the timing pads and the bell rang out to signal the final lap. Both Alvarez and Taddeucci went stroke-for-stroke into the checkpoint, and crossed the line in that order with almost nothing between them, with the chasers just a couple of seconds further back. 

The Spaniard then managed to put herself in prime position for the win with less than a kilometre to go, with Taddeucci falling back into the handful of athletes battling for the medals behind.  

With the final straight in sight, Germany’s Celine Rieder did briefly move herself into second place, which was enough to spur Taddeucci into making her final charge. She burst into action – taking Alvarez and dropping the field as she timed her surge to perfection.  

Coming into the funnel, she was challenged as the pack closed up, but the 10km silver medallist from yesterday ultimately did enough for the gold, touching in a time of 59:51.95 and going one better from the silver medal she took in the 10km yesterday. 

The silver and bronze medals were a much more closely-contested affair. With Rieder, Alvarez, and Mihalyvari all side-by-side into the touch pads, it was the latter athlete who did enough to get her hand to the pads first and touch for the silver – adding to the 10km title she took yesterday. Alvarez did enough for the bronze, which also marks a return to the podium following her 5km silver medal at the 2022 edition of the Championships in Rome. 

The win is the Italian’s first individual European title, and she spoke to European Aquatics of her delight in finally taking the top step of the podium after the race: 

“Yes, it’s the first individual race that I’ve won,” she said. “I’m very happy, because I always struggle in the final part of the race since I’m not very fast, so I didn’t really expect it. I’m really happy! 

“I’m definitely very happy, I didn’t think this gold would come, especially since yesterday.” 

Mihalyvari looked visibly pleased with her silver medal, as she also made it two medals in as many days: 

“This event was a really good and exciting race, because all the girls were so good and so fast,” she said. “I’m now waiting for the races tomorrow and Saturday. It’s been really good competing.” 

Alvarez also looked delighted to be on a European podium for the first time since Rome’s Championships in 2022. 

“Yes, it’s the first time since 2022, after Rome”, she happily explained. “Im really happy because I’ve just come back from a knee injury and I’m still in the recovery process. Little by little, I’m feeling much better, and I’m happy with the result.” 

The men’s competition started at 3pm under more inclement weather conditions. With sporadic showers in the hour before competition, the 29 athletes were informed by the head referee that the course was to be shortened to 1.25km, and to be swum over four laps, compared to the 1.66km and 3 laps raced previously.  

When the race did eventually get underway, Hungary’s reigning European champion in the event David Betlehem raced to an early lead, although the field was still dynamic as they raced towards the now-closer turn buoy of the rectangular course.  

The 21-year-old, who came home in tenth over the 10km distance yesterday, showed a clear drive to take the reigns of the race as the field converged, with France’s Sacha Velly not too far behind after a sixth-place finish of his own in that 10km race. 

The pair led the pack into the first buoy, with Italian Gregorio Paltrinieri and Hungary’s 10km race-winner Kristof Rasovszky also battling it out for the clear third place.  

In contrast to the previous races, the pack maintained a single-file line through the back straight, likely due to the shorter distance between the buoys. Passing through the first timing screens, the order remained the same from the initial convergence. 

Betlehem, who also took the 10km bronze medal at last year’s Olympic Games in Paris, was eventually reigned in by the chasing pack as the halfway stage approached. Paltrinieri, who is European champion in both the pool and open water, was the main beneficiary of the change in pace, as he inherited the lead around the buoys at the far-end of the bay, and maintained his position through the halfway timing gate, with Velly weathering the storm and keeping his second place, and Betlehem sitting behind in third.  

Wanting to make a move down the first straight, Betlehem moved to the right of the line in an attempt to pass. During this time, Velly also made a move on paltrinier – cutting infront of Betlehem and forming two parallel lines for the first time in the race, which allowed Rasovszky to come in behind the Italian. 

It would be the buoy at the end which would sort the scramble out, and it was Velly – who was last year’s world and European junior champion over the 10km distance – who found his way through to take the lead with just under 2km left to swim. 

With the athletes looking for ways to get an advantage, both Rasovszky and Paltrinieri moved to the left down the back straight towards the final checkpoint, with the Hungarian Hunor Kovacs Seres not counting himself out of the fight either, as he joined just behind. This created yet another convergence at the finish-end, as the whole field needed to move to the left to get round the buoy. Countering this, Rasovszky expended more energy to get ahead, and did enough to consolidate provisional first place as they went under the timing checkpoint, with Paltrinieri and Velly both less than two seconds behind. 

On the final lap, it was Paltrinieri, the most experienced of the field, who made that count by finding another gear with 1km to go. He put just under five metres between him and the field at the far turn, and seemed to have dumbfounded the competition, as they had to respond with a surge of their own, with ground to makeup. 

As they came around the final turn, it was only Rasovszky who managed to keep up with the Italian. The 28-year-old, who took 10km gold yesterday, kept on the feet of Paltrinieri, but it was never going to be enough. With the field moving towards the funnel, Paltrinieri made it an Italian clean-sweep of golds on day two, with a winning time of 52:05.79. 

Betlehem did enough for the silver medal, as he just missed out on replicating his 5km European gold from last year, and his compatriot Rasovszky took his first international 5km medal since 2019 to make it a Hungary 2-3 in third, as the field broke away ahead due to the surges in speed towards the wall. 

The celebrations at the medal ceremony were clear to see – with each athlete congratulating each other and receiving their medals from European Aquatics Technical Open Water Swimming Committee Chair, Andrea Prayer.

Speaking after the ceremony, Paltrinieri was happy with his performance. 

“It was a great race.” Said the now 13-time European champion across pool and open water swimming. “Today felt great, I wanted to put my pace in the water and I did it. I trained a lot for this copmpetition, so I’m glad I can stand on the podium. 

“This place [Stari Grad] is amazing. It’s one of the best places I’ve ever been to. I would even come here on vacation! The water is pretty cold but I still enjoy this place and it’s very good to be here.” 

Betlehem also spoke of his delight at receiving his sixth European medal, in what he also admits was a challenging race dynamic. 

“That was a confusing race,” he said. “I wanted to get rid of as many people as possible after the first lap, which was why I pushed, but then at the end Greg [Paltrinieri] went in a different direction, so he was playing with me a bit. It was a fun race though, and I am happy.” 

With the next two days bringing both the new 3km knockout sprint event and the mixed relay, bronze medallist Rasovszky said he was looking forward to getting involved. 

“Tomorrow’s race [the 3km knockout] is going to be more tactical than this time in the 5km because you can try to save some energy and have it pay off.” He was eager to say. “It’s going to be interesting for the swimmers as well, and for the fans watching whether at home or here in Stari Grad.” 

Tomorrow’s 3km knockout races begin with the men’s race at 10am CEST on Friday, May 30 and can be watched through the European Aquatics TV website. 

Click here for the full schedule and results. 

Click here to access European Aquatics TV.

Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics

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