Richard Weinberger of Victoria earned a berth to London 2012 with a silver medal finish Sunday in the men's 10-kilometre race at the FINA Olympic Marathon Swimming qualifier.
Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli won the gold medal in one hour 45 minutes 18.5 seconds. The 22-year-old Weinberger followed in 1:45:30.2 and Petar Stoychev of Bulgaria was third in 1:45:34.1
"To know I'm going to the Olympics is just unexplainable," said Weinberger. "I don't think it has sunk in just yet."
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Weinberger overcame a rough start to the race. Within the first 200 metres, he ripped off a bothersome cap and lost his goggles, forcing him to stop and fall into last place.
"There are a lot of ups and downs in marathon swimming so we train for that," said Weinberger. "I knew I would just have to chip away and rely a lot on my training. My race plan didn't really work out but I knew what I had to do to catch the field."
His split times indicate a strong comeback. He was in order 49th, 23rd, 15th, eighth and fifth at the splits in the six-lap race.
In the past year Weinberger has won key marathon events, including the Olympic test event last summer at Hyde Park and the Pan American Games last fall.
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During the World Cup season, Weinberger collected a silver in Argentina, and bronze in Brazil.
Xavier Desharnais of Sherbrooke, Que., was 20th.
The top-nine finishers — with a limit of one per country — earned an Olympic nomination.
Canada has two marathon swimming nominees for the Olympics.
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On Saturday, Toronto's Zsofia Balazs earned her spot with a sixth place finish in the women's 10 kilometre.