For the seventh year running, the “Swim Vilnius” event revealed the winners of seven distances in the Lithuanian Open Water Swimming Championship this year. In total, participants competed in ten different distances – from 10 kilometers to 100 meters.
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In the longest “LTU Aquatics” 10 km distance, Pijus Guvenius became the Lithuanian champion for the first time, finishing in 2:10:25.7. Jokūbas Tijūnonis came second, just 22 seconds behind (2:10:43.1), and Edgaras Štura took third place (2:10:48.0).
Last year’s 10 km champion E. Štura finished third this year. Although he had not fully recovered after the European Masters Championship, the swimmer was happy with the medal: “I just returned this week from the European Masters Swimming Championship, I was not fully recovered yet, so I had no special expectations. Still, I managed to fight honorably for a medal and take third place, so I am satisfied,” said E. Štura.
In the women’s 10 km distance, Liveta Letukaitė won (2:33:25.7), Gabija Dailidaitė was second (2:44:20.4), and Ilze Aigare third (2:44:44.1).
In the “Sportland” 5 km distance, the men’s podium was separated by just seven seconds. Povilas Strazdas became the Lithuanian champion (1:06:51.4), Germantas Petrauskas took second place (1:06:53.4), and Artūras Štura third (1:06:58.4).
For P. Strazdas, this was not just another start. He no longer competes professionally himself and coaches youth, but “Swim Vilnius” remains his annual tradition: “Now I no longer compete myself – I coach youth, triathletes, and pentathletes. But I have been coming to the ‘Swim Vilnius’ competition since the very first year and want to keep this tradition,” said the new 5 km Lithuanian champion.
He also highlighted the growing scale of the event itself: “Previously, open water marathons in Lithuania were somewhat neglected. I have participated in Plateliuose, Sudeikiai, but here is probably the highest level of organization and the most participants. We managed to create not only good competitions but also such an atmosphere,” emphasized P. Strazdas.
The women’s 5 km champion was Stela Švenčionytė (1:08:41.7), second was Lilii Tereese Luisk (1:13:43.1), and third was Viktorija Povilionytė (1:20:20.6).
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In the “Virbickas Clarus” 3 km distance, the women’s group was won by Dorotėja Mališauskaitė (45:46.4), with Glorija Korsakaitė finishing second just 0.2 seconds behind (45:46.6), and Erika Filipavičiūtė third (49:40.3). In the men’s group, Vedestas Šefleris was first (40:44.3), Emetas Cvilikas second (44:58.1), and Arūnas Krikštaponis third (45:19.0).
In the “Arimex” 1.5 km distance, Danas Budrevičius (22:07.6) and Kornelija Jankovičiūtė (22:31.5) won.
In the 800 meters “Komandos Dvasia” distance, the fastest were Matas Navickas and Luka Bardiševičiūtė; in the 400 meters “Nykštukas” distance – Artūras Štura and Milda Navickaitė; and in the 200 meters “Delfi” distance – Giedrius Mykolaitis and Luka Bardiševičiūtė.
Besides the championship distances, the event program included the 100 meters “Active Vilnius” swim, the “Adventica” children’s distance, and for the first time, a 3 km “Merglow” distance with fins.
“Swim Vilnius” organizer Mantas Marcinkevičius was pleased that the event attracts more and more swimmers of different skill levels each year: “This year’s championship showed that open water swimming in Lithuania has great potential.
We see more and more people daring to move from the pool to open waters and test themselves in different distances. It is especially nice that not only professionals but also amateurs, children, and people for whom this is the first step into open water swimming get involved in the event,” M. Marcinkevičius happily noted about the event’s growth.
Now in its seventh year, “Swim Vilnius” has again shown that open water swimming is becoming increasingly popular in Lithuania, and the competition tradition is getting stronger.
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