Sloman the fastest at Brighton, takes strokes towards Tokyo

Nick Sloman has taken his first major step towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning the Australian Open 10km swim.

Noosa’s Nick Sloman has won his first Australian Open 10km marathon championship.

Noosa young gun Nick Sloman has taken his first major step towards the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, winning the Australian Open 10km marathon championship at Adelaide’s Brighton Beach.

The 20-year-old engineering student timed his race to perfection to outsprint Western Australia’s Simon Huitenga. Hungary’s Mark Papp finished third ahead of Australian pair Bailey Armstrong and Ollie Signorini.

The plan, set by legendary coach John Rodgers, was for Sloman to make his move at the turning buoy on the final lap, with 1.25km to swim.

Sloman followed it to perfection after electing not to feed at the 7.5km stage. It caught some off guard after Papp and Huitenga had dominated upfront.

“I knew as soon as I went for it that there was no looking back … until the end and that’s what I did,” Sloman said.

Sloman has also taken maximum points towards selection on the Australian team for this year’s Pan Pacific championships.

Olympic marathon swimmer Chelsea Gubecka has swum away from the field to notch up her fifth Australian Open Water 10km championship.

“I’m pretty stoked,” said Gubecka. “To … chalk up five titles in a quality field like this is awesome.

“At the 5km mark I decided to take a risk, so I put a spurt on for a breakaway and it worked.”

AAP