With a time of 2:00:48.5 16-year-old Chloe Sutton of the United States emerged victorious in the women's marathon swimming, which awarded her one of the last tickets to the Beijing Olympic Games.

"It's overwhelmingly wonderful," added Sutton, who will race in both the pool and open water at the Beijing Olympic Games this August.

Italian duo Martina Grimaldi and Alice Franco took the second and third places in 2:01:19.7 and 2:01:36.5 respectively, but were in totally different mood.

Although there were 11 berths to be distributed in the event after the other 14 having been confirmed at the World Open Water Swimming Championships, bronze medallist Franco still failed to qualify for the Olympics since each team will qualify only one athlete per event from this tournament.

With a time of 2:00:48.5 16-year-old Chloe Sutton of the United States emerged victorious in the women's marathon swimming, which awarded her one of the last tickets to the Beijing Olympic Games.

"I'm happy for Martina, but I'm sad for myself," said Franco. "I 've been training for the Olympics for a long time."

The seventh finisher Alejandra Gonzalez from Mexico and the 11th Nika Kozamernik from Slovenia suffered the same misery as Franco for lagging behind their teammates.

A squad of 25 including the top ten swimmers at this year's World Open Water Swimming Championships grasped the opportunities to taste the Olympic debut of marathon swimming in Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2008)