Victory doesn’t take sting out of race, says Ilchenko

LARISA Ilchenko was repeatedly stung by jellyfish as she battled through one of the toughest races of her life to win the 10km open water world title in Melbourne by barely a second.

The exhausted Russian was stung all over her body, including her face, as she gave every last ounce of energy to hold off Britain’s Cassandra Patten to add the 10km crown to the 5km World Swimming Championship gold she won on Sunday.

Russia took both golds on offer yesterday with Anastasia Davydova and Anastasia Ermakova winning the technical duet synchronised swimming title ahead of Spain and Japan, while China continued domination of the diving.

It was a gruelling open water race in a choppy Port Philip Bay with rain also hampering the swimmers in a contest that Ilchenko would be happy never to repeat.

“This sort of fight, I’ve honestly never seen. I couldn’t have imagined a fight like this. Really, I just want to go home,” she said after touching in 2hrs 3mins 57.9secs.

“It was a really, really difficult race.

She added: “It was crazy in there. I’ve really never seen anything like it.

“I got so many bites from jellyfish. In the face even. I don’t understand where that strength in the last moments came from. It wasn’t from me.

“In the last 10m I thought I was about to go belly-up, just roll over and end it.”

Patten experienced similar emotions after the gruelling race, and said she was just happy to be in the medals.

“We were neck and neck and I guess she just had a little bit more experience,” said the Briton, who snatched silver from Australia’s Kate Brookes-Peterson by just half a second.

“Where didn’t I get stung, to be honest? My face, my legs, in my costume. The only place I didn’t get stung was probably the bottom of my feet.”