Swimmer's Daily

  • No words for the Swiss as they land two titles, and Italy claims two, too

    Swiss champions were lost for words on the opening day at the European Junior Swimming Championships in Kazan after Antonio Djakovic and Noe Ponti claimed astonishing wins in the 400m free and 50m fly respectively. While this double was unexpected, Italy’s one didn’t come out of the blue as both wins were convincing ones in the women’s 50m breast and 800m free. Russia and Germany triumphed in the relays.

    LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day0 02/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    PILATO Benedetta ITA 50 breaststroke women LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    50 Breaststroke women medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    MIHALYVARI FARKAS Viktor HUN 400 Individual Medley women LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    VAZQUEZ RUIZ Alba ESP 400 Individual Medley women LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    DJAKOVIC Antonio SUI 400 freestyle men LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    400 Individual Medley women medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    400 Freestyle men medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    400 Freestyle men medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    PONTI Noe SUI 50 butterfly men LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    SALIN Giulia ITA 800 freestyle women LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    50 Butterfly men medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    800 freestyle women medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    4×100 freestyle relay men medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    4×100 freestyle relay women medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    4×100 freestyle relay women medal ceremony LEN European Swimming Junior Championships 2019 Aquatic Palace Kazan Day1 03/07/2019 Photo G.Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

    Winners of Day 1

    Men. 400m free: Antonio Djakovic (SUI) 3:47.89. 50m fly: Noe Ponti (SUI) 23.48. 4x100m free relay: Russia 3:18.48.

    Women. 400m IM: Alba Vazquez Ruiz (ESP) 4:40.64 CR. 50m breast: Benedetta Pilato (ITA) 30.16 CR. 800m free: Giulia Salin (ITA) 8:29.19 CR. 4x100m free relay: Germany 3:41.24 CR.

    A historical day for Switzerland: two golds on the same day at big events are not a rarity up in the snow-covered mountains but it is definitely in swimming where the nation doesn’t belong to the powerhouses. Since the inaugural 1967 edition the Swiss managed to earn two titles in the history of the junior Europeans – now they clinched as many in 50 minutes as in the previous 52 years.

    Both victories came in nailbiting races. Antonio Djakovic staged a brilliant duel with Russia’s Aleksandr Egorov in the 400m free, it was a great neck-by-neck swim and the Swiss managed to gain 0.39sec on the home favourite at the end. Compatriot Noe Ponti’s win was a stunner in the 50m fly and in fact couldn’t have been any tighter as he out-touched Germany’s Luca Nik Ambuster by 0.01sec at the wall.

    The meet’s first title landed in Spain as Alba Vazquez Ruiz did a clean job in the women’s 400m IM. The next two female golds went to Italy, convincing performances earned these triumphs for Benedetta Pilato in the 50m breast (a full second was her winning margin) and Giulia Salin in the 800m free (the gap was 5.37sec here).

    The session concluding relays offered contrasting battles, while Russia and Italy produced a thriller which saw the hosts reaching for the wall first, by 0.06sec. The women’s sprinters missed the same excitements, here the Germans stormed to a fine victory – apparently, that was a new CR too so all four women’s finals produced a new Championship Record.

    Quotes from the winners

    Alba Vazquez Ruiz (ESP), 400m IM

    “Last year I was fourth in this event. Since then I gained a lot of experience and tried to build my race based on that. I’m happy that it worked.”

    Antonio Djakovic (SUI), 400m free

    “Amazing it was… No words… I mean, I though I might get a medal here. Perhaps silver. Gold only in my dreams. Then you saw it. It was a great race, neck-to-neck. I pushed the last 50m as hard as I could.”

    Noe Ponti (SUI), 50m fly

    “Men, that’s great. Two golds for Switzerland in one day, that never happened in history I guess. I didn’t think I could be that fast. I know these guys, Luca (Ambuster) and Andrei (Minakov), they were the favourites. But things happen sometimes. I have no words to describe my feelings!”

    Benedetta Pilato (ITA), 50m breast

    “It was a great race, everything went according to plans, I’m very happy now.”

    Giulia Salin (ITA), 800m free

    “It was a really emotional win for me. To swim in this fantastic pool in this great atmosphere was really special. The race was great, I swam well so I’m very-very happy now.”

    For detailed results, please visit http://ejc2019.microplustiming.com/indexEJC2019_web.php

    Press release from LEN, photos courtesy of Deepbluemedia / Giorgio Scala

  • The 18th FINA World Championships will take place in the beautiful city of Gwangju, South Korea. K Pop sensation BTS will be supporting the festival of harmony and all the world-class athletes! Are you ready to dive?

  • New Jersey environmental officials say people shouldn’t swim in Lake Hopatcong or even touch the water because aerial surveillance confirms the presence of an extensive harmful algal bloom.

    The warning issued Thursday also urged people to not eat fish caught in the lake or windsurf, kayak, paddleboard or ride Jet Skis there. Pet owners should also keep their animals clear of the lake.

    See NBC New York

  • A French city closed two public swimming pools after seven Muslim women “inspired by Rosa Parks” defied a citywide ban to swim in their burkinis on Sunday, despite a heatwave that triggered special measures to protect public health.

    The protest was part of a campaign dubbed Operation Burkini, launched in May by Grenoble’s Citizen Alliance, which saw burkini-clad protestors break the ban for the second time in five weeks.

    See Independent

     

  • Beachgoers near Pensacola, Florida, were in for a shock Tuesday when a hammerhead shark was spotted swimming just a few feet from the shore.

    The Navarre Beach Fire Rescue department posted pictures of the shark to Facebook earlier this week, before sharing a video of the shark Thursday. The department estimated the shark was 13 feet long.

  • A 4-year-old boy was seriously injured Sunday afternoon after being struck by a boat propeller during a boating incident on Douglas Lake, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency reported in a news release.

    About 3 p.m., Bill Thomas Wardlow Jr., 44, Sevierville, was swimming with three children under the age of 8 near points 12 and 13 on Douglas when the wind began to separate a rented pontoon boat from them.

    Onboard the boat, Starsha Lynn Tuley, 28, Knoxville, started the engine and drove toward the swimmers in an attempt to pick them up when Wardlow’s son was struck in his upper left arm and shoulder by the propeller.

    Read Johnson City Press

    Photo by dmott9

  • Health officials are asking Americans to take precautions over reports that “crypto,” a fecal parasite that can be transmitted via swimming pools, is on the rise.

    The parasite’s full name is cryptosporidium. It causes cryptosporidiosis, which can leave healthy adults suffering from “profuse, watery diarrhea” for as long as three weeks. The effects can be worse for children, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems.

    “The number of treated recreational water-associated outbreaks caused by cryptosporidium drives the summer seasonal peak in both waterborne cryptosporidiosis outbreaks and cryptosporidiosis outbreaks overall,” according to a statement from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Though it’s almost never fatal, one death has been reported since 2009, according to the CDC. Another 287 people were hospitalized between 2009 and 2017, the CDC says.

    See CNN and read People

     

  • Swiss soccer star Florijana Ismaili has been declared missing after going for a swim Saturday in Italy.

    The BSC Young Boys Frauen soccer club confirmed on their website that Ismaili, a captain on one on their squads who also plays for Switzerland’s national team, was being searched for following “a swimming accident.”

    “Searches by the police continue,” the site reports. “We are very concerned and have not given up the hope that everything will turn out well.”

    According to Italian media, Ismaila dove out of an inflatable boat she and a teammate had taken onto the lake in the middle of the afternoon, and then she was gone.

    “She jumped into the water, but never surfaced again,” the paper said.

    Read NY Daily News

  • Ohio Sea Grant is discussing harmful algal blooms and their impact on Lake Erie as part of an ongoing video series. In this video, we cover what harmful algal blooms are, what makes them harmful, when they typically occur, their impact throughout the lake and what you should know to be aware of a bloom. This project was partially funded by a Great Lakes HABs Collaboratory grant.