The competition was held at Yos Sudarso Bay, Jayapura, on Monday,with 11 swimmers from eight regions participating. In the men's category, Ernest Fabian from Jakarta was the fastest swimmer in the competition, with a time record of one hour, three minutes, and 48 seconds, netting him a gold medal.
Meanwhile, athletes from East Java and West Java fiercely competed against one another for the silver medal, but Nanda Wahyu from East Java emerged victorious, with a time record of three hours, three minutes, and 54 seconds.
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Meanwhile, West Java swimmer Rashief Amila Yaqien had to settle for a bronze medal after finishing third, with a time record of one hour, three minutes, and 55 seconds.
"This gold medal is the result of my training during my three months at Millenium Akuatik," Ernest remarked after receiving his medal.
He admitted that the Papua PON was a tough competition since the water flow was quite challenging, thereby sapping his energy.
"I swim as hard as I can to reach the finish line since the distance between me and the second and third swimmers was very less," he added.
Meanwhile, in the women's five-kilometer open waters swimming, the gold medal was bagged by East Java athlete Ressa Kania Dewi, with a time record of one hour, six minutes, and four seconds.
The silver medal was won by athlete from West Java Raina Saumi Grahana, with a time record of one hour, 10 minutes, and 12 seconds. She was three minutes and nine seconds faster than Valerie Peulini Yuwono from Yogyakarta, who won the bronze medal.
"This is the first gold medal that I won in open waters swimming. I swam based on the instruction of my coaches Hendry and Ko Dani," Dewi explained.
The three-kilometer and 10-kilometer events of the open waters swimming branch had yet to be held. (I
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Translator: M Zulfikar, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Suharto
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