Americans win 10k open water titles at Pan Pacs

WAILEA, Hawaii >> Olympians Andrew Gemmell and Haley Anderson won 10-kilometer titles in the open water competition at the Pan Pacific championships.

Gemmell, of Wilmington, Delaware, pulled away from the men’s field down the stretch to win in 1 hour, 51 minutes and 11 seconds, nearly a minute ahead of silver medalist Jarrod Poort of Australia, who touched in 1:52.12.

Kane Radford of New Zealand took the bronze in 1:52.13 at Maui’s Ulua Beach on Sunday.

Anderson, of Granite Bay California, edged teammate Eva Fabian of Keene, New Hampshire, for the gold by one second. Anderson won in 1:59.51; Fabian was second in 1:59.52. Chelsea Gubecka of Australia earned the bronze in 1:59.54.

With the victories, the U.S. has swept the men’s and women’s 10k titles at the past three Pan Pacs, including 2006 and 2010.

The open water races were relocated to Hawaii because of water quality issues at Gold Coast, Australia, where the Pan Pacs pool competition was held a week ago.