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Cleri preparing for Seville with Ras Al Khaimah race today
A record 75 swimmers led by Italian Valerio Cleri will take to the water for the second round of the Fina 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup to be held in Ras Al Khaimah today.
- By Alaric Gomes, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:10 March 15, 2008
Dubai: A record 75 swimmers led by Italian Valerio Cleri will take to the water for the second round of the Fina 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup to be held in Ras Al Khaimah today.
The Ras Al Khaimah race is the second round on the eight-race Fina 10km Marathon Swimming World Cup.
Cleri won the opening round held in Santos, Brazil leaving Evgeny Drattsev of Russia and Allan Do Carmo in second and third places respectively.
"I am not putting myself under undue pressure because I am treating this race as a preparation for Sevilla," Cleri told Gulf News.
The qualifying in Seville, Spain has suddenly become very important to the swimmers as they see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity of participating in an Olympic Games. Ten male and ten women swimmers will automatically qualify as the top 10 finishers in the 10K race at the 2008 Fina World Open Water Swimming Championships to be held in Seville, Spain in early May.
"I hope I can win in Dubai, but honestly, the result will not be of prime importance to me as my sights are set on Seville," Cleri stated.
The 27-year-old Cleri, coached by Emanuele Sacchi is a five-time open water marathon world champion.
Hard work
Since winning in a time of one hour, 58:42.10 minutes in Brazil's opening round at the end of January this year, Cleri has been practicing regularly with an eye on the Beijing Olympic Games.
"This is once in a lifetime opportunity and I do want to let it go by," Cleri stated.
"He is in good form and has been putting in a lot of hard work since the race in Santos," coach Sacchi confirmed.
But the Italian will have to get past a strong Russian contingent that includes Evgeny Drattsev [second in Brazil] and Brazilian Allan Do Carmo.
"We are looking at Dubai as a final step of preparations before Seville," Brazilian team manager Antonio Mariante stated.
In the women's section, the Russians, Italians and the Germans are always the favourites.
With Santos winner Larissa Ilchenko (Russia), Kirsten Groome (US) and Germany's Angela Maurer and Britta Kamrau coming in a day later, much of the attention was on Brazilian swimmer Poliana Oktmoto.
"I have been hard on myself during training. I need to give this my best shot and see where I stand before the important qualifying round in Seville," Oktmoto stated.
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