Sanya, China, April 25, 2026: China raced to a 1-2 finish in the first open water swimming event of the 6th Asian Beach Games at the Sanya Bay Haiyue Square venue cluster on Saturday.
Elite-level swimmer Li Xinxuan won gold in the women’s 5km in 1 hour, 1 minute and 33.6 seconds, 9.6 seconds ahead of teammate Chen Yijing, who took silver in 1:01:43.2.
Vietnam’s Vo Thi My Tien, bronze medallist in the 10k at the SEA Games in Thailand last year, claimed the bronze medal here in 1:01:57.7, 24.1 seconds behind the leader. She had trained in China for three weeks to prepare for the Asian Beach Games - and the hard work paid off.
Of the 17 swimmers, 13 completed the course; one did not finish and three were over the time limit.
The open water swimming programme continues with the men’s 5km on Sunday and the mixed team event 4x1500m relay on Monday.
The competition was due to start at 9am but was put back three hours to noon following the rainstorm the previous afternoon.
Open water swimming is one of two disciplines under aquatics, along with water polo.
