Hector takes 7th place at Fina Marathon World Series
Old Ellesmerian and Olympic hopeful, Hector Pardoe (19), took
an impressive 7th place in the Fina Marathon World Series 10,000 metre swim,
held in Doha.
Taking place in the Qatari capital, the event was the
first international marathon event for over a year and attended by over 90 of
the World's top distance swimmers.
Coming into the final lap of 5, Hector had worked his way
up to 6th position – less than 4 seconds behind the leader Marc-Antoine Olivier
who eventually took Gold. Despite his relative inexperience, Hector continued
to press hard on the final lap finishing in a career best at senior level -
just ahead of Ferry Weertman, the reigning Olympic Gold medallist from Rio
2016.
Commenting on his success Hector said "That's an awesome
result! It was a really tough race, with frustrating conditions but I'm glad to
get the job done and place in the top 10, winning some prize money as well!!
That gives me a lot of confidence, so it's now back to training for another 11
weeks before the Olympic qualifier in Fukuoka, Japan".
This success in Doha comes on the back on Hector having
smashed the British 25,000 Open Water record, being the first ever British
Swimmer to dip under 5 hours, at the French National Championships held back in
September 2020. Hector will travel to Japan at the end of May in a bid to
qualify for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games – where he will need to finish as the
top British swimmer and in the top 9.
Hector is currently blogging his training up to the
Olympics on his twitter account @hector_pardoe
23rd March 2021 Back to News