Hector Pardoe takes Gold for GB at Olympic Marathon Swimming Qualification Event in Setubal.
20 year old, GB Marathon Swimmer, Hector Pardoe finished in first place and took the Gold medal in Sunday’s Fina Marathon Olympic 10,000m Qualification Race, held in Setubal.
Taking place in Portugal, the event was attended by over 110 of the World’s top distance swimmers from all 5 Continents and 47 National Federations.
From the offset Pardoe was up to speed with the pace of the race, staying within the front chase pack of the 63-strong field, as Takeshi Toyoda (JPN) went solo up ahead for the opening four laps.
Coming into the final lap of 5 with 2000 metres to go, Pardoe sat in third position having swum a tactical race – biding his time and conserving energy. In the final lap he significantly upped the pace, overhauling Takeshi Toyoda and with 500m to go sprinted for the finish line, winning by a margin of over 5 seconds ahead of Athanasios Kynigakis from Greece.
Commenting on his success Hector said “The felling is indescribable! After taking such a big risk moving my life to France, not speaking the language, having to fend for myself in a foreign country – which was made even harder by the covid restrictions and not being able to see my family for 6 months at a time. Then of course the intensity of my training, averaging 85k every week for the last 2 years, it all has resulted in something that I’m so proud of!
Obviously, I’m ecstatic to get the qualification spot but also to get the win on top of that, I was thinking before the race that I was a contender for winning the race, but the pressure and my mind were more focused on the qualification spot. I can’t tell you have many times I’ve dreamt of winning this race. The power of positive thinking!
Despite it being a really tough race, with frustrating conditions including strong currents, high winds and big waves, I felt good in the water throughout.”
Hector’s Olympic Qualification comes on the back of him having finished 7th at the Fina World Series Marathon in Doha in March; 8th at the European Championships in Hungary in May; and having smashed the British 25,000 Open Water record, being the first ever British Swimmer to dip under 5 hours, at the French National Championships held back in September 2020.
Hector is currently blogging his training up to the Olympics on his twitter account @hector_pardoe