Open water swimming at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 25 kilometres
| 2001 FINA World Championships  Fukuoka, Japan | ||
|---|---|---|
| Diving | ||
| Individual | ||
| 1 m | men | women |
| 3 m | men | women |
| 10 m | men | women |
| Synchronised | ||
| 3 m | men | women |
| 10 m | men | women |
| Open water swimming | ||
| 5 km | men | women |
| 10 km | men | women |
| 25 km | men | women |
| Swimming | ||
| Freestyle | ||
| 50 m | men | women |
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| 800 m | men | women |
| 1500 m | men | women |
| Backstroke | ||
| 50 m | men | women |
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Breaststroke | ||
| 50 m | men | women |
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Butterfly | ||
| 50 m | men | women |
| 100 m | men | women |
| 200 m | men | women |
| Individual medley | ||
| 200 m | men | women |
| 400 m | men | women |
| Freestyle relay | ||
| 4×100 m | men | women |
| 4×200 m | men | women |
| Medley relay | ||
| 4×100 m | men | women |
| Synchronised swimming | ||
| Solo | women | |
| Duet | women | |
| Team | women | |
| Water polo | ||
The Women's 25 km Open Water event at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships was held on July 21, 2001 in Fukuoka.
Russians intended to win easily the team gold. They expected Olga Guseva to be at least among the first five in the women's 25 km and Natalya Pankina among the first ten. But all of a sudden Guseva left the race after reaching 18 km. Leaving only Pankina in the race who managed a fifth. Just enough for the team trophy.
Viola Valli (ITA) winner of the 5 km and Edith van Dijk (NED) were both favourites. They both looked more confident from the very first buoy. Valli was 2 min behind at 8 km, but she was determined to catch-up. Van Dijk was in the lead for half a distance, but after rounding the buoy at 12.5 km, Valli spurted ahead and the Dutch swimmer was not able to keep up with her.
"I won! It's wonderful to win two golds here," Valli said. "Even though I was behind at 8 km, I was confident I would catch-up."
"I felt good," van Dijk said. "I was working hard to win, I was well ahead of the others for a while, but Valli was really fast. I kept up with her on the return leg but she moved ahead in the last 6.5 km. Anyway I’m happy with the silver.
Bronze medal winner Angela Maurer (GER) was happy because she didn’t expect any medal at all. "I almost gave up during the race, it was very hard. I needed to drink water all the time. I must have drunk six litres during the race. The current and the big waves made the race really tough. It was the hardest race ever swam. I tried to stay in and concentrate to do my best."
Team gold went to Russia by only a 2 point advantage over Italy. The Italians had bad luck with the disqualification of Pampana in the 10 km.
Results
| Rank | Swimmer | Nationality | 12.5 km | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Viola Valli |  Italy | 2:58:47 | 5:56:51 |
 | Edith van Dijk |  Netherlands | 2:58:45 | 6:00:36 |
 | Angela Maurer |  Germany | 2:58:46 | 6:06:19 |
| 4 | Britta Kamrau | Germany | 2:58:49 | 6:08:46 |
| 5 | Natalya Pankina |  Russia | 3:02:21 | 6:14:26 |
| 6 | Briley Bergen |  USA | 3:03:24 | 6:20:07 |
| 7 | Alessandra Romiti | Italy | 3:04:23 | 6:35:14 |
| 8 | Yvetta Hlaváčová |  Czech Republic | 3:13:45 | 6:36:22 |
| 9 | Shelley Clark |  Australia | 3:09:00 | 6:41:16 |
| 10 | Tiffany Sawin | USA | 3:14:22 | 6:44:12 |
| 11 | Yuki Fukuda | Japan | 3:15:56 | 7:07:22 |
| -- | Olga Guseva | Russia | 3:01:13 | DNF |
| -- | Eszter Balázs |  Hungary | 3:27:15 | DNF |
| -- | Audrey Boitte |  France | DNF | DNF |
Key: DNF = Did not finnish, DQ = Disqualified
See also
- Open water swimming at the 2007 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 25 km
- Open water swimming at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships – Women's 25 km