Eric Hedlin posing with medalAP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Eric Hedlin swims to bronze at World Aquatics Championship

Canada’s Eric Hedlin raced to a bronze medal in the 5km open water swim to claim a bronze medal on Saturday at the World Aquatics Championship in Gwangju, South Korea.

Eric Hedlin recorded a time of 53 minutes, 32.3 seconds to claim his bronze medal. Hungary’s Kristof Rasovszky earned the gold medal and the first medal of the swimming world championships. His time of 53:22:10s put him ahead of France’s Logan Fontaine (53:32.2). As a result, Fontaine finished 10.10s in front of Hedlin.

The 26-year old from Victoria, British Columbia is no stranger to the 5km open water podium. Back in 2013, he won a silver medal in the event. Six-years later, Hedlin has now collected his second world championship medal and is happy with his return.

This was the first of seven open-water events. The 10km open water event is a qualifier for Tokyo 2020.

The FINA World Championships feature all events in swimming, diving, artistic swimming and water polo and run until July 28, 2019.

To catch all the action from the world championships, you can find a downloadable schedule of CBC’s live stream here.