Two-time National Champion Chloe Sutton collected Team USA's first medal of the Open Water World Championships when she finished third in the 5K open water event in a time of 1:00:09.9. Only one day remains left in the four-day competition at Open Water Worlds.

"I am thrilled," Sutton said. "This is my first world championship medal. After World Championship Trials in Florida, my confidence was really low. This gave me a confidence boost. I did what I came here to do."

Sutton received a yellow card during the beginning of the race for rolling over swimmers to make her way to the outside of the group. The Pan American champion was forced to sprint for a lap to catch back up with the top swimmers. After catching the leaders, Sutton led the crowd of swimmers for the majority of the race.

After being pushed under water and thrust to the back of the pack at the beginning of the race, Christine Jennings (Longmont, Colo.) recovered and gradually made her way up to the middle of the group. Jennings finished the race in a time of 1:01:37.1 for 21st place.

Russia's Larisa Ilchenko and Ekaterina Seliverstova garnered a 1-2 finish in the race with times of 1:00:04.6 and 1:00:07.8, respectively.

Chad La Tourette (Mission Viejo, Calif.) went head-to-head with the lead swimmer in the men's 5K race for more than half of the event. Rounding the final turn, La Tourette fell just out of medal position in fourth place with a time of 55:04.5.

"My strategy was to stay out of trouble," La Tourette said. "I wanted to have good turns and stay on the inside. I felt like I was about to do that. Actually, I was surprised by how much I was able to do that."

Josef Kinderwater (Lancaster, Pa.), who had only competed in one open water race prior to coming to World Championships, held a steady position in the middle of the group. He finished 15th in a time of 55:21.0.

Germany's Lurz Thomas won the race in 54:57.3, followed by Russia's Vladimir Dyatchin in second with 54:58.8. Maarten Van Der Weijden rounded out the top 3 in 54:59.8.

Competition will conclude on May 8th, with the men and women's 25K race. Ten-time National Champion Erica Rose (Cleveland Heights, Ohio) and Micha Burden (Anchorage, Alaska) will compete for the women, while Olympian Mark Warkentin (Santa Barbara, Calif.) and John Kenny (Atlantic City, N.J.) will represent the U.S. for the men.