• Perfect “dress rehearsal” for Zakharov

    Kiev (LEN) – Ilia Zakharov is back on the top. While the Russian kept local heroes Illya Kvasha and Oleg Kolodyi at bay in the 3m final, he also held a perfect dress rehearsal for the upcoming World Championships next month in Budapest. After the 2012 Olympic champion had missed the podium last year at the Europeans in London, today he offered a nearly perfect performance, receiving a total of 525.10 points. Kvasha, already decorated with a gold in the 1m event, came second with 484.30 points, ahead of his compatriot Oleg Kolodyi who clinched bronze with 470.30 points. In the second ever edition of the mixed 10m synchro event Great Britain’s Lois Toulson and Matthew Lee grabbed gold, ahead of Russia and Italy.

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  • Just when you though it was safe to go back in the water without winding up in a race with Michael Phelps, the Olympic hero is set to test his mettle once again. This time, though, Phelps will be putting his aquatic prowess up against his most dangerous opponent yet: a great white shark.

    Hey, he has nothing left to prove against mere humans, right? But now in retirement, Phelps does need to parlay his legendary athletic career into high-profile gigs of various sorts, and so it is that he will star in this year’s installment of Discovery’s “Shark Week.”

    Here is the breathless blurb about the cable channel’s “Great Gold vs. Great White” event, from Thursday’s news release regarding its popular annual shark-stravaganza, set to air in late July:

    “They are one of the fastest and most efficient predators on the planet: Sharks. He is our greatest champion to ever get in the water: Michael Phelps. 39 world records. 23 Olympic golds.

    “But he has one competition left to win. An event so monumental no one has ever attempted it before. The world’s most decorated athlete takes on the ocean’s most efficient predator: Phelps V Shark — the race is on!”

    Read The Washington Post

    Photo by travelbagltd

  • There are some people excited to see the International Olympic Committee adding new events — including the men’s 800m and the women’s 1500m — that will improve gender balance in the pool.

    But legend Michael Phelps doesn’t sound like one of them.

    During an event promoting Krave Jerky at Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers, Phelps was asked at a Q&A session for his thoughts on the new events, and whether they would give a swimmer a better chance at breaking his total medals record. Regarding the first part of that question, he gave this reply:

    I don’t care if somebody does, to be honest. I think it’s good to have somebody out there that is willing to challenge themselves in a way that they had no idea, so if they have a chance to do something great like that, then I would love to see it.

    Read FORTHEWIN

    Photo by Gage Skidmore

  • About one in five Americans say they’ve peed in the pool. Even the world’s most famous pool-user, Michael Phelps, says “everybody” does it. Now scientists have finally figured out a way to quantify just how much urine is in our pools, and the results in Environmental Science & Technology Letters probably won’t please swimmers. A research team testing 31 pools and hot tubs in Canada found evidence of urine in every single one of them, Gizmodo reports. On average, there were 8 gallons of urine in a 110,000-gallon pool and 18.5 gallons of urine in a 220,000-gallon pool. According to the Guardian, the results were even grosser for hot tubs. One hotel hot tub was found to have three times the urine level of the worst swimming pool.

    Read USA Today

  • Host Ukraine takes lead in the medal table – Historical first medal for Switzerland

    Kiev (LEN) – “Hopp Schwyz”, Michelle Heimberg caused the sensation on the fourth competition day in Kiev winning a “historical silver” in the 3m springboard and the first ever medal for Switzerland in the history of European Diving Championships. After five jumps the 17-year-old Heimberg (293.25 points) finished just ten points behind the new European champion Anna Pysmenska (303.30 points), who achieved her first individual title. The bronze went to her compatriot Anna Nedobiga with 291.65 points. The hosts’ treasury got a fine boost this day as the men’s synchro platform title also went to Ukraine, ahead of Russia and Great Britain. With their first European gold in the synchro event, Oleksandr Gorshkovozov and Maksym Dolgov also secured Ukraine’s lead in the medal table after seven of altogether 13 events.

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  • Scuba diver Hiroyuki Arakawa and Yoriko are the unlikeliest of friends. While they both share a love for the sea, Yoriko’s gills and tail make her a little more aquatically inclined. Nearly every day for the past 25 years, Arakawa has been diving into the waters of Hasama Underwater Park in Tateyama, Japan, to visit Yoriko—an Asian sheepshead wrasse. One day, Arakawa found her looking exhausted and carrying an injury. So he did what any friend would do: he took care of Yoriko, feeding her crabs and nursing her back to health. Their decades-long friendship is proof there’s no greater bond than the one between man and fish.

  • This summer new legends will be born at the 17th FINA World Championships

  • Kvasha sends the locals to seventh heaven

    Kiev (LEN) – A seventh European title for Illya Kvasha on 1m, seventh heaven for the local fans. This is the balance after host Ukraine got the first gold at the 2017 European Diving Championships. Kvasha finished atop in his “living room”, at the Sport Centre LIKO as he took the lead after the fourth dive and claimed gold with a total of 431.75 points in a thrilling competition. Great Britain stroke another gold, this time in the women’s 10m synchro.

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