María de Valdés, a 23-year-old from Malaga, is the fifth best open water swimmer in the world. The long-distance runner from the CN Liceo achieved fifth position in the final of the 5 km at the Budapest World Championship, 4m10s from the bronze that the Italian Giulia Gabbrielleschi posted.
The performance of the swimmer from Fuengirola is the best of the Spanish delegation at the World Cup in Budapest after the fiasco of online swimming, without any finalists or medals. Artistic swimming achieved bronze in Highlight.
The fifth place of María de Valdés is the best position of a Spaniard in a World Championship, in the open water discipline, since the 4th achieved by Kiko Hervás in the 25 km test in Shanghai 2011.
The great result of María De Valdés comes just 24 hours after being disqualified in the 4x1,500 mixed relay that she formed with Ángela Martínez Guillén, Carlos Garach and Alberto Martínez.
In the 5 km final, at Lake Lupa, north of Budapest, De Valdés started with Ángela Martínez, an 18-year-old rookie, who finished 14th after coming back from 25th position in the first lap.
The two Spanish came out very heeled by the bibs. His plan was to have connected with the leading group upon reaching the first buoy. De Valdés achieved it by turning the first corner of the circuit, 1,540 meters long, and she occupied the 10th position, at the time that the Australian Moesha Johnson dominated.
In the second lap, De Valdés gained three positions, making room for herself in the central part of the leading group, which included the Brazilian Ana Marcela Cunha -who would win gold-, Johnson, the French Aurelie Muller -silver-, the German Leonie Beck and Dutch Sharon van Rouwendaal.
The woman from Malaga started the last lap in seventh position, pending Beck and Van Rouwendaal, who were very fast. She positioned herself well for the final sprint, Cunha opened the distance, dragging Muller and Gabbrielleschi -the trio from the podium-, Maria followed in the wake of Beck, who took her to the finish, while the Dutchwoman sank and finished 10th. The Spanish got fifth place with 1m40s over the Italian Ginevra Taddeucci.
For her part, Ángela Martínez, from the 1,500 and 800 in the pool, was climbing positions from 25th in the first lap, passed 21st in the second and finished 14th.
"I am very happy with all the work done. After working for so long, the results are beginning to be seen. I wanted to be in the top 10, swimming with the best in the world, and everything that was to overcome it, much better. So I am very happy to this 5th place, which is my best result in everything I've been swimming in open water", commented the swimmer from Fuengirola, trained by Jesús de la Fuente, in statements to the Spanish Swimming Federation.
His next test will be the final of the 10 km, the Olympic open water modality, on Wednesday 29. Ángela Martínez will also participate. "María is going to come out very strong after this result", commented Sergi García, RFEN's technical manager for open waters.
Until this 5th world position, the results of María de Valdés had been discreet: she was 14th in the 5 km the previous World Championship 2019 and 30th in the 10 km in Budapest 2017, in addition to 22nd in the 10 km from the European Glasgow 2018.
