(BEIJING, August 20) -- Vladimir Dyatchin of Russia and Thomas Lurz of Germany, the two men who have dominated Open Water Swimming for the past five years, are expected to continue their rivalry when the Men's Marathon Swimming event makes its Olympic Games debut at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on Thursday, August 21.
Dyatchin will start as one of the favorites after winning back-to-back world championship golds over the 10km distance in 2007-08. He also won four of the 2007 World Cup events, finishing in second place on three other occasions.
Dyatchin will take a lot of confidence from his 2007 world championship defeat of Lurz, when the pair played a game of cat and mouse for the last kilometer before a brilliant tactical move on the final turn of the last lap by Dyatchin caught Lurz off guard and gave the Russian the gold.
Lurz has also had his share of success over the 10km distance, winning gold at the 2004 and 2006 world championships as well as a World Cup victory in Dubai earlier this year.
The biggest threat to Dyatchin and Lurz may come from inexperienced marathon swimmer David Davies of Great Britain. Davies has already competed in the 1500m event at Beijing 2008, where he finished sixth.
Competing in his first open water world championships earlier this year, Davies was the surprise silver medalist, beating the more fancied Lurz and finishing only 0.3 seconds behind gold medalist Dyatchin. A similar performance at Beijing 2008 could put him in medal contention.
Russian Evgeny Drattsev is a strong medal challenger after taking bronze at the 2006 and 2007 world championships, and finishing fifth in 2008.
Fourth in this year's world championships in Spain, Maarten van der Weijden of the Netherlands will also be out to claim a medal. At the 2008 world championships, he took gold in the 25km discipline, and bronze over 5km. This flexibility in adapting to different tactics and speed across multiple distances should allow him to challenge the big guns in Beijing.
Since taking silver at the 2006 world championships, Valerio Cleri of Italy has been disappointing at world-championship level. However, strong performances throughout the 2007-08 World Cup seasons suggest he has timed his form perfectly to challenge for a medal in Beijing.
Other contenders include Mohamed Monir of Egypt and Ky Hurst of Australia who have been inconsistent over the past few years, but have proven at World Cups and world championships they can cause a surprise on their day.
American Mark Warkentin's pet event has been the 25km. However, a seventh place at the 2008 world championships over 10km, improving from 20th in 2007, suggests he might be one to watch.
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