Swimmer's Daily

  • 100.000 Euros are up for grabs

    LEN is delighted to announce the start of the second season of the LEN Swimming Cup with a new format and 100.000 Euros in overall prize money. The first leg is due this weekend in Luxembourg, followed by other long-established meets, the Swim Cup in Eindhoven, the Open de France and the Sette Colli in Rome.

    After the initial season, the LEN Swimming Cup is back with a new format in which 100.000 euros will be distributed among the best performers, beyond the prize money offered by the respective hosts of the four meets.

    “We are happy and proud to offer even more for our wonderful athletes in the LEN Swimming Cup, which are going to be among the highlights of the season, leading to the Olympic Games” LEN President Paolo Barelli said. “We involve well-established competitions to our series, this is the best way to serve our athletes and federations and to further promote the top discipline of European Aquatics.”

    The top 5 European overall performers among the men and women will be entitled to receive prize money from the pot of 100.000 Euro – the final rankings will be based on the two single best swims (by FINA points), each achieved in different legs (so swimmers will be eligible to receive prize money if they take part at least in two legs – and only the top two results will count). The male and female winner shall earn €16.000 respectively.

    The first leg in Luxembourg will already feature some household names of the sport. France’s Olympic champion sprinter Florent Manaudou will continue his comeback campaign, fellow Olympic gold medallist Jeremy Stravius, open water world champion Aurelie Muller – who seeks Olympic success in the pool after she failed to qualify in the marathon – and Charlotte Bonnet are the leading members of the French delegation.

    Freshly crowned LEN Award winner Katinka Hosszu is back to the Euro Meet once again, the 9-time world champion Hungarian is targeting more Olympic golds after her treble in Rio and this event is traditional stop in her preparations.

    World-record holder butterflier Andriy Govorov and European champion and short-course world champion 1500m-man Mykhailo Romanchuk from Ukraine are also ready to rock in Luxembourg, just like Italy’s two most talented age-groupers, JWR-holder Nicolo Martinenghi and junior world champion Thomas Ceccon.

    Altogether 785 athletes from 29 nations have been entered to the event, a giant field for the 22nd edition of the first grand swimming meet of the year.

    LEN Swimming Cup 2020
    Leg 1 – Euromeet, Luxembourg (24-26 January)
    Leg 2 – Swim Cup Eindhoven (9-12 April)
    Leg 3 – Open de France, Paris/Chartres (TBD)
    Leg 4 – Sette Colli, Rome (26-28 June)

    Press release from LEN

  • Imagine starting your academic year by taking a swim to school? Well, it’s become a norm for some school children in Mumias East, Kakamega County. This, after the makeshift bridge they were using was washed away in December by floods, forcing them to swim across river Lusumu to get to school. The school children, parents and teachers now want a lasting solution from the government.

  • Inner Harbor Homes highlights a foreclosed home in Baltimore with an unusual feature for an urban townhouse: a deep indoor swimming pool.

    The home is hardly large enough to contain a hot tub, yet now accomodates a 15-ft pool on the ground floor. As this video makes clear, the interior is extensively modified around the pool: the kitchen is gone to make way for the pool itself and the floors above opened to create a multi-storey open space. There is a diving (?) platform up there. There’s a disquieting quality to the place. It maybe now exists only to serve the desires of the pool, which I propose we file under Euclid.

    Someone spent a lot of money on this place, and whatever they were doing didn’t work out. The house, modernized but weird and blatantly dangerous, is on offer for $139k.

    See BoingBoing

  • Discover this summer’s most eco-friendly races https://www.vastsverige.com/en/westsw… for running, canoeing, cycling, swimming and roller-skiing enthusiasts of all ages and abilities. All the races offer experiences and surroundings that are truly amazing. A memorable occasion for competitors and spectators alike, and with a firm emphasis on sustainability. Challenge yourself during West Sweden Action Weeks!

  • Film for the award-winning campaign, Swimming in it. Demonstrating how plastic in the ocean affects marine life and how young people using STEM can help combat the problem.

  • More than 180 swimmers from 12 clubs across Southwestern Ontario competed in the 3rd Annual Special Olympics London Gliders Swim Meet Sunday at the Aquatic Centre in London.

  • A skydiving trip takes an unexpected turn when extreme turbulence sends a plane carrying a group of friends towards the Earth. The friends must jump from the doomed plane into the abyss of a cloudy sky and try to land in a safe place. However one of the men quickly realises he is in very real danger when he lands the middle of the ocean with no sign of land, or rescue.

    https://youtu.be/KcCVDrnItmg

  • Favorites are through, though Georgia almost stunned Russia

    All four favorite sides qualified for the quarter-finals. Spain and Montenegro went through without any headache, Greece had to overcome some initial struggles but Russia was pressed till the end by the Georgians and the game almost ended in a shootout.

    1 SVK HOFERICA Tomas Slovakia Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena Slovakia (white caps) Vs. Malta (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    1 SVK HOFERICA Tomas Slovakia Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena Slovakia (white caps) Vs. Malta (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    1 MLT GRIXTI Nicholas-Kane Malta, 7 SVK TKAC Maros Slovakia Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena Slovakia (white caps) Vs. Malta (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    5 NED VAN IJPEREN Guus Netherlands Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena Netherlands (white caps) Vs. France (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    9 ESP TAHULL COMPTE Roger Spain Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena Germany (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    5 DE TORO DOMINGUEZ Miguel Spain, 11 RESTOVIC Marin Germany Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena Germany (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    13 ESP LORRIO BEJAR Eduardo Spain Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena Germany (white caps) Vs. Spain (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Giorgio Scala / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    6 KHARKOV Konstantin GEO – Georgia Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena RUS – Russia (white caps) Vs. GEO – Georgia (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    2 RADU C. (C) ROU – Romania Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena ROU – Romania (white caps) Vs. GRE – Greece (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    8 NISPELING Jesse NED – Netherlands Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena NED – Netherlands (white caps) Vs. FRA – France (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    Team FRA – France Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena NED – Netherlands (white caps) Vs. FRA – France (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo ©Pasquale Mesiano / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    4 PETKOVIC Marko Montenegro Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena MONTENEGRO (white caps) Vs. TURKEY (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    9 SONMEZ Nadir Turkey, 7 VIDOVIC Stefan Montenegro Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena MONTENEGRO (white caps) Vs. TURKEY (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    9 BYCHKOV Igor Russia, 5 BITADZE Andria Georgia Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena RUSSIA (white caps) Vs. GEORGIA (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    12 SHEPELEV Roman Russia, 9 RURUA Zurab Georgia Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena RUSSIA (white caps) Vs. GEORGIA (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    12 VLACHOPOULOS Angelos Greece Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena ROMANIA (white caps) Vs. GREECE (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    Team Greece celebrate Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena ROMANIA (white caps) Vs. GREECE (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
    12 PJESIVAC Stefan Montenegro, 6 GURDENLI Emre Turkey Budapest 20/01/2020 Duna Arena MONTENEGRO (white caps) Vs. TURKEY (blue caps) Men XXXIV LEN European Water Polo Championships 2020 Photo © Andrea Staccioli / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

    Men’s tournament
    Quarter-finals qualification: Montenegro v Turkey 17-6, Germany v Spain 6-12, Russia v Georgia 14-13, Romania v Greece 7-14
    For places 13-16th: Slovakia v Malta 8-4, Netherlands v France 8-9

    Fixtures for Wednesday
    Quarter-finals: Italy v Montenegro, Serbia v Spain, Hungary v Russia, Croatia v Greece. For places 9-12th: Turkey v Georgia, Germany v Romania. For places 13-14th: Slovakia v France. For places 15-16th: Malta v the Netherlands

    There were no hiccups on the first day of the knockout phase, though Georgia was close to upset the Russians who barely avoided becoming part of a penalty shootout. The action-packed first period saw 10 goals, the Russians were a bit better (6-4) then by halftime they seemed to have built a  comfortable 9-6 lead. When they went 10-6 up, no one envisioned what might come next. It was Serbian-born leftie Boris Vapenski, who netted two in 75 seconds to give hope for the Georgians and it turned into belief as soon they were trailing by only a single goal at 11-10.

    Russia responded well, though, and bounced back for a 14-11 lead in the fourth but the Georgians didn’t let it go. Their foreign legion, Croatian-born Marko Jelaca, Montenegrin Damir Tsrepulia, and Italian Fabio Baraldi all contributed to create a miracle as they came back to 14-13 with 1:27 remaining. And they did have a possession to go even but Jelaca’s shot went wide and the Russians killed the remaining time.

    In the following game, Romania tried to achieve something similar against Greece and in the first half, they managed to surprise their rivals by taking a 4-1 lead early in the second period. The first signs of life from the favorites came in a span of 44 seconds, a double by Konstantinos Genidounias, still, the Romanians held on for 5-4 at halftime.

    Head coach Theodoros Vlachos made order in the middle break, a different team came back to the pool and they also made order – within 46 seconds they turned the game and by the end of the third they decided it as well with a 6-0 rush in this period. They won the seconds half 2-10 and will meet European and World bronze medallist Croatia in the quarters.

    In the first two QFQ matches Montenegro and Spain made it clear right at the beginning that they were not keen to entangle in any dogfight. Montenegro led 8-2 at halftime against the Turks and earned the biggest win of the day, while after a balanced first period Spain netted six in the second, won the middle two quarters 3-9 and switched back to energy-saving mood for the last period. They had a cause to do so as they will replay the 2018 final against title-holder Serbia in the quarter-finals.

    In the games for the lower ranks, Slovakia could win its first match here, against Malta, while the Netherlands had to go through more bitter moments as they fell short against France and will play for the 15th place only, though the team had much more potential (hosting Olympic Qualification Tournament saves them a place in that competition – otherwise they would have lost the chance to take part).

    For more details, detailed statistics, play-by-play descriptions visit:
    http://wp2020budapest.microplustiming.com

    Press release from LEN, images courtesy of Deepbluemedia

  • FINA Champions Swim Series 2020

    Athletes from China and Japan were in great shape in the second and last leg of the 2020 edition of the FINA Champions Swim Series, taking place in Beijing (CHN) on January 18-19. The local stars, as with the first stop of the circuit in Shenzhen (CHN, January 14-15), left the Ying Dong Natatorium venue of the Chinese capital with nine titles, while the hosts of this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo earned five gold medals.

     

    Superstar Sun Yang did not disappoint his fans in the 200m and 400m free, with Xu Jiayu (100m back), and Yan Zibei (100m breast) completing the set of Chinese victories in the men’s category. From the Japanese side, Ryosuke Irie (100m and 200m back), Ippei Watanabe (200m breast), and Daiya Seto (200m fly and 200m IM) were also the athletes to beat in their respective events.

    Sill among men, 2019 FINA Swimming World Cup winner Vladimir Morozov (RUS) was the fastest in the 50m and 100m free, Brazilians Joao Gomes Jr (50m breast) and Nicholas Santos (50m fly) were also consistent, and Matthew Temple gave the sole gold of the entire Series for Australia, in the 100m fly.

    In the women’s field, China’s Liu Xiang imposed her class in the 50m free and 50m back, while teammates Yu Jingyao (100m and 200m breast) and Yang Junxuan (200m free) completed China’s harvest.

    Hungary earned three titles, with Ajna Kesely (400m free), Katinka Hosszu (200m back) and Liliana Szilagyi (200m fly) shining for the Magyar side. The Netherlands had also good reasons to celebrate in Beijing, with Kira Toussaint (100m back) and Ranomi Kromowidjojo (50m fly) appearing in excellent shape.

    The remaining titles among women went to Siobhan Haughey (HKG) in the 100m free, to Molly Hannis (USA) in the 50m breast, to Elena Di Liddo (ITA) in the 100m fly, and to Sydney Pickrem (CAN) in the 200m IM.

    Athletes from 21 nations earned podium positions in Beijing, with 11 of them getting at least one gold medal: China (9), Japan (5), Hungary (3), Netherlands, Russia, USA and Brazil (all with two gold each), Italy, Hong Kong (China), Canada and Australia (with one title apiece).

    At the conclusion of the successful 2020 Champions Swim Series in Beijing, FINA invited participating athletes and coaches for a meeting, where they could provide their feedback and give suggestions for the subsequent editions of the event.

    A total of 70 athletes from 26 National Federations were invited to take part in this year’s edition of the competition. Together, they had earned a total of 59 Olympic and 163 World Championships’ medals.

    Report Day 1 + Quotes here
    Report Day 2 + Quotes here

    Athletes’ impressions on the CSS 2020 here

    Winners in Beijing (CHN):

    50m free – Men: Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 21.55; Women: Liu Xiang (CHN), 24.03
    100m free – Men: Vladimir Morozov (RUS), 48.32; Women: Siobhan Haughey (HKG), 53.33
    200m free – Men: Sun Yang (CHN), 1:45.55; Women: Yang Junxuan (CHN), 1:54.98
    400m free – Men: Sun Yang (CHN), 3:44.98; Women: Ajna Kesely (HUN), 4:09.10
    50m back – Men: Michael Andrew (USA), 24.92; Women: Liu Xiang (CHN), 27.58
    100m back – Men: Xu Jiayu (CHN) & Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 52.97; Women: Kira Toussaint (NED), 59.64
    200m back – Men: Ryosuke Irie (JPN), 1:55.55; Women: Katinka Hosszu (HUN), 2:09.95
    50m breast – Men: Joao Gomes Jr (BRA), 27.08; Women: Molly Hannis (USA), 30.34
    100m breast – Men: Yan Zibei (CHN), 58.83; Women: Yu Jingyao (CHN)), 1:07.18
    200m breast – Men: Ippei Watanabe (JPN), 2:08.40; Women: Yu Jingyao (CHN), 2:24.52
    50m fly – Men: Nicholas Santos (BRA), 22.95; Women: Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), 25.91
    100m fly – Men: Matthew Temple (AUS), 51.71; Women: Elena Di Liddo (ITA), 58.09
    200m fly – Men: Daiya Seto (JPN), 1:52.53; Women: Liliana Szilagyi (HUN), 2:08.37
    200m IM – Men: Daiya Seto (JPN), 1:55.55; Women: Sydney Pickrem (CAN), 2:09.26

    4x100m free mixed: Team Andrew – Michael Andrew (USA), Andrei Minakov (RUS), Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED), Wang Jianjiahe (CHN), 3:29.72
    4x100m medley mixed: Team Liu – Liu Yaxin (CHN, W), Yan Zibei (CHN, M), Andrei Minakov (RUS, M), Wang Jianjiahe (CHN, W), 3:49.19

    All 2020 FINA Champions Swim Series’ action was broadcasted on FINATv and had extensive coverage on both the FINA website and FINA social media platforms.

    Press release from FINA