Antonio Benito swims without a wetsuit and finishes sixth in the Ho'ala Swim in Kona”
Antonio Benito has shown that he is in good shape on the traditional crossing Ho'ala Swim, played in the week before the World Cup.
This is a 3.8 km swimming event held every year on the island of Kona, Hawaii, as part of the preparations for the Ironman World Championship.
The Spanish triathlete, unlike the rest of the professionals, swam without a wetsuit, finishing in sixth position with a time of 51:09, completing the 3.800 metres at a pace of 1:20'/100m.
Antonio Benito comes out at the feet of Sam Laidlow
La Ho'ala Swim follows the same route as the swimming segment of the Ironman, making it an ideal field test for athletes before competition.
In previous editions, victory has gone to some of the favorites to win the world championship, such as Josh Amberger y Sam Laidlow, who finished second at the 2022 World Cup.
In the female category, Lucy Charles-Barclay has dominated the event since 2017. In this edition, however, it was an age-group athlete who stole the show.
The Australian Sam Askey-Doran, a young athlete in the 18-24 age group, took the victory with a time of 50:31, completing the 3.800 meters of the race.
Classification of Professionals
menno koolhaas (NED) led the group of professionals that included Ben Kanute (USA), Fina Grosse-Freese (GER), Sam Laidlow (FRA), Antonio Benito y Mathias Petersen (DEN).
Other big names in Hawaii's career, such as Nick Thompson (AUS), Kristian Høgenhaug (DEN) and Clement mignon (FRA), left with a slight delay. David McNamee (GBR), Paul Schuster (GER) and Patrick Lange (GER) started almost two minutes behind the leaders.
The event, which is already a tradition, had more professionals than on other occasions.
