Kasvio takes photo-finish triumph as Verani impresses at European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup Tenero opener

The European Aquatics Open Water Swimming Cup 2026 lastly received off the mark in Tenero with Italy’s Dario Verani executed an ideal race plan and Finland’s Louna Kasvio took a memorable photo-finish victory to take the honours within the respective males’s and girls’s races a gruelling six-lap, 10km course within the Swiss village.

The cease in Tenero successfully turned the season opener after the scheduled first leg in Protaras was cancelled, that means the waters noticed the 32 males and 31 ladies start their campaigns for the collection, that may see two extra stops in Razanac and Barcelona over the subsequent 4 weeks earlier than an total champion is topped.

It might hardly have been nearer on the entrance of the lads’s race, with the highest ten ending inside simply 14.53 seconds of each other after practically two hours of racing. Dario Verani held his nerve after a collection of shut battles all through the race to take the win in 1:47:19.51, having been inside the highest 4 at each checkpoint earlier than he kicked on down the ultimate lap and dropped the remainder of the sphere.

Poland’s Bartosz Kapala pushed him closest, ending simply 6.52 seconds again in second, with Estonia’s Jaan Pasko finishing the rostrum an extra 1.68 seconds behind in third. Fellow Italian Fabio Dalu, who took the lead on the midway stage of the race, in the end needed to accept fourth, edged out by a wafer-thin nine-hundredths of a second as they got here into the funnel and touched the pads.

Germany’s Diego Alfons Heinze rounded out the highest 5, whereas house hero Paul Niederberger put in a spirited efficiency to complete because the main Swiss athlete in sixth. His compatriot Christian Schreiber adopted in seventh, with France’s Emile Mesmacque, Germany’s Mika Kovacs and Lukas Steuter finishing the highest ten in a bunch end that summed up the closeness of the racing throughout the sphere.

Verani has already taken plenty of medals at worldwide stage, with the 31-year-old’s current bronze medal as a visitor on the Pan Pacific Championships in Los Angeles serving pretty much as good preparation in what would be the venue for the Olympic Games in 2028.

“Today was a perfect day because the water was totally flat and the water temperature was perfect,” stated Verani after the race.

“I’m blissful to do the race on this situation and it’s a great way to begin the brand new season.

“My tactic was to stay back and improve my speed down the final lap, and I’m glad it paid off.”

The ladies’s race informed an analogous story on the sharp finish, with barely a physique size separating the leaders after 10km of racing. 20-year-old Louna Kasvio received the higher of a five-strong lead pack to say victory in 1:56:01.51, however Poland’s Klaudia Tarasiewicz gave her an actual scare, lacking out on the win by simply 0.06 seconds in what in the end got here right down to who timed their stroke higher.

Italy’s Iris Menchini took third, 8.58 seconds down, whereas Germany loved a robust day trip with Fabienne Wenske and Luisa Rumler filling fourth and fifth respectively. Rumler had led the sphere because the race reached two-thirds of the way in which by way of earlier than fading barely over the closing phases.

Behind that main quintet, the race opened up significantly. Estonia’s Kirke Motsnik got here house sixth, greater than 5 minutes down on the winner, forward of Ukraine’s Mariia Yepifanova in seventh. The trio of Swiss swimmers Emma Fredersdorf, Cherelle Oestringer and Nina Mani rounded out the highest ten, giving the house nation illustration all through the ending order in each races.

The result’s the Finn’s first ever senior worldwide medal in open water swimming, following a formidable eighth-place end within the 10km occasion on the European Aquatics Championships in Paris and it places her in pole place for the general collection title forward of the remaining legs.

“It means a lot and I’m super happy with the whole race,” she stated following her historic victory.

“It wasn’t actually my plan to guide for about the entire 2 hours, nevertheless it was nonetheless good and I feel it’s an excellent expertise to have this sort of race additionally. I’m tremendous blissful.

“it was definitely mentally a bit tough, but I think physically I knew I’m maybe in a better shape in this part of season because I didn’t have that much vacation. I’ve trained with Klaudia, who got second, a lot this season, so I know what she’s good at. I was believing in myself that I can still beat her at the end.”

With Protaras not materialising, Tenero has successfully set the tone for the 2026 Open Water Swimming Cup season. Attention now turns to Razanac in Croatia on 26 September for the subsequent leg earlier than the circuit concludes in Barcelona on 3 October to resolve the champions following one of many busiest summers of open water swimming in current reminiscence.

Click here to access the full results from the competition.

Stephen Stanley for European Aquatics