World Aquatics Championships: Wellbrock claims third gold, Kajimoto takes 3km sprint crown
Ichika Kajimoto and Florian Wellbrock win titles in new event that involves athletes swimming 1,500m, 1,000m and 500m in quick succession
Japan’s Ichika Kajimoto won gold in the 3km knock-out sprint on Saturday at the World Aquatics championships.
The 21-year-old came out on top after six minutes, 19.90 seconds, beating Ginevra Taddeucci of Italy by two seconds. Third place went to Australia’s Moesha Johnson and Hungary’s Bettina Fabian.
In the knock-out sprint, which was contested for the first time at the World Aquatics championships, three races are completed in quick succession.
Athletes first swim 1,500 metres, then 1,000m, before the final 500m sprint determines the winner.
The event made its debut at last year’s Open Water World Juniors.
It was then swum at two of the three World Cup stops with four different winners - Germany’s Oliver Klemet and Hungary’s David Betlehem, as well as Germany’s Lea Boy and Kajimoto.