The 2024 Open Water National & Junior National Championships kicked off this morning with the 10K, seeing Katie Grimes (Sandpipers of Nevada) and Axel Reymond (FRA) take home national titles. The event also serves as a qualifier for the USA Swimming Open Water National Team, National Junior Team, and U.S. roster for the 2024 World Aquatics Open Water Junior Championships.

Women’s 10K – FINAL

1. Katie Grimes (Las Vegas, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada), 1:58.18
2. Claire Weinstein (White Plains, N.Y./Sandpipers of Nevada), 1:58.22
3. Mariah Denigan (Walton, Ky./Indiana University), 1:58.38

Grimes on her race: “It was definitely fun. I felt like Claire (Weinstein) and I had really good teamwork in the first half. That was kind of the plan – to just stick together the first half and then do our own thing in the second half. I felt like we did a really good job. I hope we both walked away from that race with lessons learned – I know I did. I'm really excited about that race and just knowing that I can still be strong at the end.”

Men’s 10K – FINAL
1. Axel Reymond (FRA), 1:53.20
2. Ivan Puskovitch (West Chester, Pa./TSM Aquatics), 1:53.21
3. Dylan Gravley (Las Vegas, Nev./Sun Devil Swimming), 1:53.21

Puskovitch on being the top-American finisher: “That was my highest finish at Nationals, so that's boding pretty well for the future. I wanted to try a few new things in that race with Paris coming up, because that's going to be a really fast and really competitive event. And fortunately, with my spot booked, I could afford to experiment a little bit in this race. I'm happy with the way it turned out. There have been a lot of hiccups and life interruptions as of late, so coming into this event and performing the way that I did today bodes really well for Paris."

Competition continues tomorrow with the Junior 5K. The men’s race begins at 2 p.m. ET, followed by the women’s race at 2:05 p.m. ET.

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