Sports
Moesha Johnson Leads Women’s Field with Gold in Setúbal
Olympic silver medallist Johnson wasn’t sure if she’d make it to the start line in Setúbal after battling illness for the last few days, and says her goal coming into today was just to ‘survive’.
“In all honesty, I’d actually been battling illness into this and the plan was just to survive basically until the end. I think it just shows how strong I am even under not ideal conditions”.
Image Source: Moesha Johnson clinched her second Women’s 10km victory of 2025 in the World Aquatics Open Water Swimming World Cup (World Aquatics)
The gold medal winner from Somabay did far more than just survive, dominating the second half of the race after working her way up from 16th position at the halfway point. Working alongside Taddeucci and Monaco’s Lisa Pou, they formed a small gap from the pack in the fifth lap, edging away with each stroke before veteran Jouisse cemented herself back in the top three.
Johnson made her move for the gold on the penultimate lap, moving to the front and stretching the athletes behind her into single file racing. “To hold two laps in the front was definitely not what I expected”, she said.
“Once I was leading the last lap, I thought well let’s just hold on. I saw they were in single file behind me and basically once you’re in single file, unless I dropped my pace drastically then, it’s really hard to pass. So I just backed myself a little bit, but also was very very careful with how I did the race because of the way I came into this [event].”
Taddeucci, who joined Johnson on the podium at the Paris Olympic Games, maintained a leading position throughout the race in what was a commanding display from the Italian.
After a blistering first lap from Sprint Lap winner, Japan’s Airi Ebina – who crossed through the first timing gate 40 seconds quicker than the men’s field earlier today (17:27.50) – Taddeucci was provoked to respond early in the race. Respond she did, attacking the race from the start in what has become a signature tactic for the 28-year-old.
Image Source: Ginevra Taddeucci was second across the finish line in the Women’s 10km (World Aquatics)
Taking a completely different tack was France’s Jouisse, who took bronze in 1:53:43.10. Following her triple sweep at the French National Open Water Championships last week (3km, 5km, 10km), Jouisse adds to her collection of eight World Cup medals.
“I’m happy, it’s always good. Once again I’ve done good here so it’s still one of my favourite races”
“[The conditions] were the same with the current changing during the race and some waves. I think on the first lap that it was really wavy which was a bit scary actually. The water temperature was changing; at the end of the fourth buoy that was warm, and then cold so we froze – I couldn’t even feel my feet anymore!” she said.
Speaking on the pace of the first lap, she said: “I never play for the sprint on the first lap. But I didn’t expect it to go that fast actually. Normally it goes fast and then it slows down a little bit, but it didn’t. I don’t know what I split for the first three laps, but I was really, really in the back.
“At some point, I saw that the pack broke a little bit and I was at the beginning of the second pack so I thought, okay, you’ve got to move right now and if not you’re out. With the current and everything, if you lose the front, there’s a high chance that you never come back.”
Image Source: Moesha Johnson, centre, Ginevra Taddeucci, left, and Caroline Laure Jouisse, right, finished on the podium in the Women’s 10km (World Aquatics)
Strong performances from Germany’s Lea Boy and Monaco’s Lisa Pou, who finished in 5th (1:53:49.50) and 8th (1:53:53.60) respectively, saw them in contention for medals at different points. Pou led a split pack on the fourth lap, which dictated a big change in the race standings following a sharp turn at one of the buoys.
Boy maintained her position in the top 10 throughout the majority of the race, finishing strong down the home straight to touch just behind fourth place finisher, Viktoria Mihalyvari-Farkas of Hungary (1:53:44.80).
Ibiza champion Angela Martinez-Guillen (ESP) touched home in sixth place (1:53:50.40) while seventh went to Germany’s Celine Rieder, the silver medallist from Ibiza which marked her first international open water individual medal (1:53:50.80).
Racing continues in Setúbal tomorrow with the Men’s and Women’s 3km Knockout Sprint races, the heats of which get underway at 11:00 and 13:00 (local time), respectively.
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