Italians secured the first places in the Mediterranean Open Water Marathon Cup, held in Protaras on October 5-6, alongside the Cyprus Championship and the international veterans’ races.
According to the Cyprus Swimming Federation, Italian athletes secured the first places in all individual and team events, as well as the first place both in the general classification and in the men’s and women’s category separately.
Francesco Esposito was the winner of the 5km event, while Sofia Biagi secured first place in the women’s event. Giovanni Lauricella and Federica Sirchia clinched that first place at the 7.5 km, while the Italian team also won the 4×1.25km relay.
Italy won the cup by a wide margin with 89 points, leaving Israel in second place with 30 p. and France in third with 21 p. On the Cypriot side, the participation of the national team (Philippos Lytridis, Julia Korotaeva, Irini Panagiotou, Andreas Agathangelou) in the 4x1250m relay stood out. They finished at the second place, while in the individual ev
ents, Philippos Lytrides of Limassol secured the 7th place in the 5km and Irini Panayiotou also of Limassol the 8th place in the 5km.
In the Cyprus Championship, the Limassol Nautical Club won the title for the second time in its history (the first was in 2013) collecting 73p., leaving Famagusta in second place with 30p. and Constantia in third place with 27p.
Limassol athletes secured four of the six 5km medals. Three medals in the women’s race were secured by Limassol athletes Olivia Andrea Protopapa, Irini Panayiotou and Efrosini Skoubi, while Yiannis Ergatoudis finished second in the men’s race. The gold medal was secured by Nicosia Nautical Club swimmer Petros Ioannides, while the bronze medal went to Kyriakos Hadjiionas of Famagusta.
More than 50 veteran athletes from ten countries (United Kingdom, Hungary, Italy, India, Greece, Israel, Ukraine, Thailand, Germany and Cyprus) participated in the 2.5km race, the press release concluded.
Source: Cyprus News Agency