KalinaNikolaeva and AntoniiMoraliyski, both from Varna, are the winners of the 82nd edition of the Galata – Varna swimming marathon. Nikolaeva stopped the stopwatchat 1.06.11, and Moraliyski swam the distance of 4.5 km. for 1.02.53.

The competition was held on August 7, Sunday, in the sea capital. 209 people from 11 countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Germany, Denmark, Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Singapore, Greece and Bulgaria, participated in the oldest swimming competition in our country.

VladislavTerziev from Varna finished second among the men with a time of 1.04.00. The second time among the women was given by KalinaZaharieva (Blagoevgrad) – 1.06.15.The rest of the men from third to sixth place are: RadoslavTodorov, Dobrich (1 ,06.00), GeorgiTsurev, Varna (1.06.34), BlagovestTodorov, Varna (1.11.03) and BoyanNaydenov, Sofia (1.17.41). Among the ladies, third was Olga Rybalko, Ukraine (1.07.51), followed by Selena Vlahova, Sofia (1.07.59), Alexandra Vachkova, Varna (1.08.06) and Liliana Georgieva, Plovdiv (1.08.17)

The prize for the most successful participant from Varna went to AntoniiMoraliyski, who was also awarded the “DobriDinev” Cup. KalinaNikolaeva won the prize for the most successful performance among women from Varna.

“I am proud to be from Varna. I dreamed of experiencing the feeling of swimming in the marathon, and I made sure that it was a magnificent experience! In the beginning I had competitors, but then I broke away and swam alone. There was a pretty big wave. I dedicate my victory to my hometown of Varna!” commented KalinaNikolaeva, the winner of the women’s marathon, immediately after finishing.

The men’s winner, AntoniiMoraliyski, said that he participated for the third time. “I swam in 2017 and 2018. And this year I trained hard. There was a great current! But thanks to the accompanying boats that marked the marathon line, we managed,” he said.

For the first time in the history of the marathon, it was stopped before the control time due to extremely bad weather conditions – 3-ball wave and wind speed of 12-13 m/s. However, swimmers who were close to the Buna, in the safety zone – were allowed to finish normally. The rest were stowed away in accompanying boats for their safety. All participants received certificates for having completed the distance.

The Chairman of the Board of PSC “Black Sea” PhilippeRombaut is swimming in the marathon for the eleventh time.