DOHA, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- A total of 44 athletes, 22 women and 22 men, either automatically qualified or earned their National Olympic Committee (NOC) quota places for the marathon swimming events at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, World Aquatics confirmed on Tuesday.
The top three finishers in both genders of the open water swimming 10km events at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships, held last July in Fukuoka, Japan, earned a personal invitation and automatically qualified these athletes and their NOCs for the Paris Olympics.
For the women: Leonie Beck (Germany), gold; Chelsea Gubecka (Australia), silver; Katie Grimes (United States), bronze.
For the men: Florian Wellbrock (Germany), gold; Kristof Rasovszky (Hungary), silver; Oliver Klemet (Germany), bronze.
The final 19 positions for women and men were earned at the ongoing Doha World Aquatics Championships.
In Doha, NOC quota positions for men:
France (2), Britain (2), Australia (2), Italy (2), Hungary (1), Israel (1), Ecuador (1), Greece (1), United States (1), Austria (1), Czech Republic (1), Mexico (1), Japan (1), Namibia (1), and Poland (1).
For women:
Spain (2), Brazil (2), France (2), Netherlands (1), Portugal (1), Australia (1), United States (1), Italy (1), Monaco (1), Japan (1), Hungary (1), Britain (1), Mexico (1), South Africa (1), China (1), and Canada (1).
Marathon swimming, a class of open water swimming defined by long distances, made its Olympic debut at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. During Paris 2024, it will take place in the River Seine from August 8-9. ■
