Category: Competition

  • The Shanghai 2011 start lists are now ready

    FINA has released the revised psych sheets for the World Championships, to be seen for instance here on Omegatiming.com. My personal focus is of course on the 800 and 1500 freestyle for men, where our guy Pál Joensen from the Faroe Islands is ranked No. 9 in the 800 and No. 6 in the 1500.

  • This pool is reserved for Pál Joensen

    Dumb luck or respect, Pál Joensen got to swim totally alone at the Yuan Shen Natatorium in Shanghai yesterday at noon. Afternoon training was packed though, with all the big countries in the pool, and the deck crowded with camera crews filming Tae-hwan Park, USA et al.

  • Cesar Cielo gets off with a warning

    The Court of Arbitration for Sport today upheld a decision by the Brazilian swimming federation to impose the minimum penalty – a warning – after Cesar Cielo, Nicholas dos Santos and Henrique Barbosa tested positive for a banned diuretic in May. Fourth swimmer Vinicius Waked has been served with a suspension for one year, since…

  • Keri-Anne Payne 10K World Champion for the second time in a row

    Keri-Anne Payne retained the world 10K crown at the Shanghai 2011 world championships today, becoming the first British athlete to qualify for the Olympic Games in London 2012. She led from the start until the third of four 2.5 km circuits, before being overtaken for a while by Australia’s Melissa Gorman, and then deciding it…

  • Half-boiled from the hot humidity

    So I went out to search for that mall again, that I couldn’t find yesterday, and didn’t find today either. Found other things though, like (incidentally) the Yang Shen Natatorium, before returning two hours later with fingers so swollen, that there was squeaking resistance when I clenched my fists.

  • Social networking tough at Shanghai 2011

    Australians and Americans write about the difficulties we’re having with keeping up with our social statuses, while inside the Great Firewall of China. Some have found solutions by creating their own virtual private network (VPN) to a server outside of China, while others might have found a loophole using some maybe less restricted internet at…

  • Checking out Shanghai 2011 training and competition facilities today

    So I went to visit the Yuan Shen Natatorium this morning, which is closer to our hotel than the Oriental Sports Center world championships venue, and therefore a time saver for when Pál needs to train. It was only a 10 minute taxi ride even with what seemed like a traffic jam to me, costing…

  • James Magnussen to compete despite of pneumonia

    Australias sprint comet James Magnussen has lost no confidence going into this month’s world championships despite battling pneumonia, the national head coach Leigh Nugent said yesterday. Read more here on The Sydney Morning Herald.

  • So, how is Shanghai ?

    Very nice, very nice indeed. A guide was waiting for us at the end of the ramp from the airplane, guiding us via special express-lanes through customs formalities to our luggage, and then straight to the hotel. Here, I was greeted with flowers by the hotel staff, and then met our liaison officer Cora, who…