Leah Crisp aims to learn from ‘incredible’ experience of first Olympic Games

Proud marathon swimmer Leah Crisp said there was plenty to learn from the ‘incredible’ experience of competing in her first Olympic Games.

Crisp finished in 20th place in the Women’s 10km race, held over six laps in Paris’s River Seine, in a time of 2:07.46.

The Bath Performance Centre swimmer said reaching the start line in the French capital was an achievement in itself and was ‘just the beginning’ for her.

Rio 2016 gold medallist Sharon Van Rouwendaal, of the Netherlands, finished top of the podium, winning the race in a time of 2:03.34.

Crisp said: “It was a really tough race and I really gave my all to get to the end there, especially against the current,” said Crisp.

“The location is amazing – a few times looking up you could see the Eiffel Tower in the background and you do think ‘wow’, so it was challenging but this is an amazing place to have the race.

“I’m slightly disappointed in the result. I would have of liked to have placed higher and been more involved in the race, but I’m proud of the journey I’ve taken. 

Just the beginning

“Being quite new in the open water just to get on the start line today was incredible and for me this is just the beginning.

“My race plan went really well on the first lap but a couple of times I got stuck taking the wrong line where there might have of been more current and then fell back a little bit. 

“So a lot of this is about experience, I’ve never experienced anything like that before and there is definitely a lot of learnings to take from today.

“A lot of the takeaways will be about holding my own line, especially keeping that line down the inside and not letting other people in a points by really fighting for your position.

“I think that’s the main thing but I’ve still got lots to learn about how to handle different situations, currents and different types of water.”

The Men’s 10km race takes place on Friday 9 August and will feature the Team GB duo of Toby Robinson and Hector Pardoe.