Top Danish swimming club Sigma hires Spanish elite coach Carles Subirana Rovira

After having won the Danish elite division Team Championships this weekend, Sigma, the home club of Lotte Friis announced yesterday that head coach Simon Winther was leaving the club as of that day, after discussions with the board about future plans. The club promised to announce a new head coach in a few days, before later the same evening announcing the new head coach to be high-profiled Spanish coach Carles Subirana Rovira.

Carles Subirana has most recently served as head coach of Club Natació Montjüic, and earlier as head coach of the CAR High Performance Center in Sant Cugat del Vallès, Catalonia, where he coached Mireia Belmonte to a world record in the 400 SC IM. His 30-year-long carreer includes having been Coaching Director to the Spanish Swimming Federation, Spanish national open water coach, Olympic coach at Athens 2004, World Championships coach in 2001, 2003 and 2005, European Championships coach in 2002, 2004 and 2006, and Spanish Junior National coach with swimmers like Rafael Muñoz, Aschwin Wildeboer, Erika Villaécija, og Duane da Rocha under his wings. He has been head coach of El Club Natació L’Hospitalet also, that assignment apparently ending in quite a row.

Board member Lise Lotte Erichsen comments:

‘SIGMA SWIM feels that with the appointment of Carles we have found the best possible coach for our swimmers, and at the same time a leader who can lead the continued development of our elite venture, our other coaches and overall be sparring partner to the board in all matters. We believe that Carles has all the qualifications to do the job, and we are proud that he has chosen SIGMA SWIM as his new workplace.’

Sigma Swim last week also added American coach and blogger Chris DeSantis to their coaching roster, in charge of “Sigma 2”.

Lotte Friis is training with Camille Muffat and the rest in Nice since autumn 2012.