Swimmer's Daily

  • Russia: Victory Day with two golds

    After four years, world-class action has returned to the London Aquatics Centre as a series of fine diving and synchro events kicked off the European Aquatics Championships on Monday. The Russians held a Victory Day parade here as well, capturing both gold medals on offer on 9 May.

    RUSSIA RUS Gold Medal KOLESNICHENKO, YESIPOVICH, SHULHINA, TARAKHOVIC, TALEIKO, VALASACH, NAVASIOLAVA, BICHUN, WARDAK, KHANDOSHKA Team Technical Final London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Synchronized Swimming Day 01 09-05-2016 Photo Andrea Staccioli/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    WARD-LEE Team GBR bronze medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Team event final Day 01 09-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    WARD-LEE Team GBR bronze medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Team event final Day 01 09-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Team ITA bronze medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Synchro Team technical final Day 01 09-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Team RUSSIA gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Synchro Team technical final Day 01 09-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Team RUS BAZHINA-MINIBAEV gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Team event final Day 01 09-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Team RUS BAZHINA-MINIBAEV gold medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Team event final Day 01 09-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Team UKRAINE silver medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Synchro Team technical final Day 01 09-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Team UKR PROKOPCHUK-GORSHKOVOZOV Silver medal London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Diving Team event final Day 01 09-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Perottino/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

    “What a pleasure to stand here, in this wonderful London Aquatics Centre. The vivid memories of the Olympic Games four years ago are still with us, but here we are once again for another fantastic championships in the British capital!” LEN President Paolo Barelli began his speech with these words at the opening ceremony, after Chairman of British Swimming, Maurice Watkins, welcomed everyone at the third European Championships held in Great Britain, after 1938 and 1993.

    President Barelli, re-elected for another four years on the eve of the championships, also declared: “Here, in London, we will have even bigger media exposure and tremendous promotion for swimming, fair competition, healthy lifestyle. And last but not least, here, in London these European Championships will also inspire the young generations just as the Olympics did in 2012.”

    The ceremony was followed by the first final of the fortnight, the team technical event in synchro. As expected, world title-holders Russia clinched the gold with a convincing performance, ahead of their fiercest rivals, the Ukrainians. The Italians were also overjoyed after finishing third.

    In diving, as usual, the team event started the competitions. Again, it went down to a duel between the Russians and the Ukrainians. Despite a rare penalty deduction at Iuliia Prokopchuk’s second dive, the Ukrainians seemed to have a chance to finish atop but Russia’s Viktor Minibaev came up with the dive of the evening on the very last attempt. A perfect mark of 10 flashed on the scoreboard and the 102.60 pointer won the title for the Russians, who celebrated their nation’s treasured Victory Day in style in London. The home fans also had something to cheer as Georgia Ward and Matthew Lee earned the first medal, a bronze, for the hosts.

    For detailed results please visit LEN’s renewed website: www.len.eu

    Direct link: http://len.eu/?p=4378

    Images courtesy of Deepbluemedia

  • Paolo Barelli has won another four-year term as President at the LEN Election Congress held in London. David Sparkes and Tamas Gyarfas were also re-elected as General Secretary and Treasurer respectively. President Barelli thanked the support to all LEN Member Federations and declared that together they could ensure that Europe remains the strongest and most successful continent in the aquatic world.

    LEN 2016 Extraordinary Congress London, East Winter Garden, Canary Wharf Day 0 08-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Paolo Barelli LEN president (1st to the left) LEN 2016 Extraordinary Congress London, East Winter Garden, Canary Wharf Day 0 08-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Paolo Barelli has been confirmed as LEN president for the next four years LEN 2016 Extraordinary Congress London, East Winter Garden, Canary Wharf Day 0 08-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Paolo Barelli has been confirmed as LEN president for the next four years with 77 votes against his contender, the dutch Erik Van Heijningen who received 27 preferences LEN 2016 Extraordinary Congress London, East Winter Garden, Canary Wharf Day 0 08-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Tamas Gyarfas LEN Treasurer LEN 2016 Extraordinary Congress London, East Winter Garden, Canary Wharf Day 0 08-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Erik Van Heijningen Candidate LEN 2016 Extraordinary Congress London, East Winter Garden, Canary Wharf Day 0 08-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    LEN Bureau Newly Elected LEN 2016 Extraordinary Congress London, East Winter Garden, Canary Wharf Day 0 08-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

    For the first time ever all 52 member federations were present at the LEN Congress in the magnificent East Wintergarden at Canary Wharf. The activity and the financial reports presented to the delegates on 2015 and on the past four years all highlighted how LEN managed to overcome the difficulties from 2012.

    The recent cycle turned into a success story, LEN major events produced a significant growth in cumulative TV audience, popularity and media exposure. Involving great cities to stage the European Aquatics Championships (Berlin 2014, London 2016) and the strongest water polo communities for the Water Polo Europeans (Budapest 2014, Belgrade 2016) all contributed to the strengthening of LEN’s position in world of sport, just as the professionalism and the dedication of the hosts of the other important LEN events.

    Consequently, LEN’s financial situation has never been so sound as of today, and for the first time it could offer prize money for the athletes competing at the European Championships, and grant travel assistance for the participating federations, amounting almost 2 million euros for 2015 and 2016.

    Still, as President Barelli emphasised, the most important outcome of the past four years was the fantastic results the European athletes achieved. As he concluded his speech, “our top priority will be the same, to dedicate all our activities to the benefits of the athletes.”

    The other presidential candidate, Erik van Heijningen also presented his programme, then the voting took place. Paolo Barelli got 77 votes, Erik von Heijningen had 27 so Mr. Barelli won another four-year term as LEN President.

    The other Officials, General Secretary David Sparkes and Treasurer Tamas Gyarfas, running unopposed, earned unanimous support to continue their work. Francis Luyce, Christa Thiel, Dimitris Diathesopoulos, Sven von Holst and Andriy Vlaskov were elected as Vice-Presidents.

    LEN will be represented in the FINA Bureau by Paolo Barelli, Tamas Gyarfas, David Sparkes and Dimitris Diathesopoulos and two other members who will be elected at world-at-large in the 2017 FINA Congress in Budapest.

    After the Congress the re-elected LEN President insisted that together the LEN Family could travel the long road successfully. “We had a strategic plan of action and it worked in the past four years. We will exceed these successes in our next term. Our system is based on strategic financial forecasting and implementation.”

    “Also, strengthening ties between FINA and LEN will be a top priority in the organisation’s immediate future” Paolo Barelli added. “We will work to increase the support we offer to national federations for the development, more specifically in the areas of teaching and coaching courses, aquatic sport centres, modernisation of equipment and European legislation. LEN must provide operational assistance to members who desire to develop the aquatic disciplines more rapidly in their home countries.”

    As a conclusion, the LEN President said: “I would like to thank all those who have helped LEN achieve such remarkable results during my first term as President. Our most heartfelt thanks go to our athletes who we are proud to support by means of our continued, passionate, hard work.”

    Upon this occasion, four long-serving officials’ were recognised for their outstanding efforts done for European Aquatics: Swimming Technical Committee Chairman Soren Korbo, TSC Secretary Ray Kendall, former Water Polo Technical Committee Chairman Haluk Toygarli and Technical Diving Committee Chairman Georgia Fyrigou-Consolo.

    Composition of the new LEN Bureau, 2016-2020

    President: Paolo Barelli (ITA)
    General Secretary: David Sparkes (GBR)
    Treasurer: Tamas Gyarfas (HUN)

    Vice-Presidents: Dimitris Diathesopoulos (GRE), Sven von Holst (SWE), Francis Luyce (FRA), Christa Thiel (GER), Andriy Vlaskov (UKR)

    Members: Fernando Carpena (ESP), Joe Caruana Curran (MLT), Per Rune Eknes (NOR), Pia Holmen (DEN), Jerzy Kowalski (POL), Ahmet Mazhar Bozdogan (TUR), Aleksandar Sostar (SRB), Marco Stacchiotti (LUX), Noam Zwi (ISR)

    FINA Bureau Continental Members: Paolo Barelli, Dimitris Diathesopoulos, Tamas Gyarfas, David Sparkes

    LEN Internal Auditors: Ray Kendall (IRE), Giuseppe Nicolini (SMR)

    Press Release by LEN

    Images courtesy of Deepbluemedia

  • Filmmaker Pepe Arcos has made his latest film, “Pressure,” available for general viewing on Vimeo. The 20-minute film, which premiered at ADEX last month, follows Miguel Lozano’s attempt to set a new freediving world record, and explores the mental and physical challenges faced by the world’s top freedivers.

    Read DPG

  • Fantastic championships are ahead

    “We are very happy to return to London and really grateful for British Swimming to host this great event here, in the London Aquatic Centre” LEN President Paolo Barelli said while speaking at the European Aquatics Championships’ opening press conference.

    (L to R) Paolo Barelli LEN president; Maurice Watkins British Swimming Chairman London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Press Conference Day 00 07-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    (L to R) Marco Birri, LEN; Paolo Barelli LEN president; Maurice Watkins British Swimming Chairman London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Press Conference Day 00 07-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Olivia Federici GBR Synchro London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Press Conference Day 00 07-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    (L to R) Chris Mears GBR, Cagnotto ITA diving London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Press Conference Day 00 07-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    Chris Mears GBR diving London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Press Conference Day 00 07-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    (L to R) Giorgio Minisini, Manila Flamini, Mariangela Perrupato ITA Mix SYN London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Press Conference Day 00 07-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto
    (L to R) Marco Birri, LEN; Paolo Barelli LEN president; Federici GBR; Mears GBR; Cagnotto ITA; Minisini ITA; Flamini ITA; Perrupato ITA; Maurice Watkins British Swimming Chairman London, Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park Pool LEN 2016 European Aquatics Elite Championships Press Conference Day 00 07-05-2016 Photo Giorgio Scala/Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

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  • For the second year in a row, the Danish Swimming Federation is holding a European Open Water Swimming Cup. Just as last year, the event takes place in conjunction with Copenhagen Swim, which this year will be held on Saturday 27 August. The European Cup in Copenhagen is the fifth leg in a series of six, where upwards of 40 swimmers from all over Europe are expected to participate in the 6 kilometer distance in the canals of Copenhagen. The European Cup swimmers must therefore swim 3 x 2 kilometer laps around Christiansborg.

    Last year’s European Cup featured 10 kilometers of open water swimming, and here the fastest of the three Danes was Laust Moesgaard, who achieved a fine 10th place in a strong field. Several Danish swimmers are also expected to line up for the start this year.

    Caroline Kleemann Falster, Project Manager at the Danish Swimming Federation, is looking forward to the event, which is one of the most prestigious open water events in Europe:

    “Once again we are pleased to have the privilege of inviting Europe’s strongest open water swimmers to the European Cup in Denmark. With the event being set round Christiansborg, we can offer participants a unique backdrop, where spectators can follow the entire route. Together with the City of Copenhagen and SportEvent Denmark, both of which are supporting the event again this year, Denmark’s strongest open water swimmers once again have the opportunity to train for an international competition on home ground.
    There will undoubtedly be a tough battle for positions when the race gets underway in the canals of Copenhagen,” says Caroline Kleemann Falster, Project Manager at the Danish Swimming Federation.

    A unique event
    The canals of Copenhagen create a fantastic setting for the European Cup with a unique opportunity to swim around the Danish Parliament Buildings in the centre of Copenhagen. There are very few European cities who can boast that the water in the harbour is so pure that it is possible to hold swimming events.

    When the European Cup is held in conjunction with the fun event Copenhagen Swim, is it because the coupling of an elite event and a fun event creates a fantastic synergy effect. Copenhagen Swim is expected to attract around 3500 participants, and therefore also a large group of spectators at the European Cup, while the European Cup helps put Copenhagen Swim on the international map as a fun event that is also open to foreign participants.

    Open training opportunities in Danish open water communities around Copenhagen
    As a special offer for foreign participants during the week leading up to Copenhagen Swim, many Danish open water swimming communities are offering the opportunity to come and train with them. It is a unique opportunity to experience various training sites in Danish waters in the form of sea, lake and fjords, in and around Copenhagen. You can read more about the various open water communities and their training sites on www.copenhagenswim.com under “Event”.

    Press release

  • Dry skin, or pool hair? Find out from Canada’s most elite swimmers how they deal with these common #AthleteProblems.

    Featured Athletes:
    Ryan Cochrane
    Javier Acevedo
    Tess Routliffe
    Katarina Roxon
    Brittany MacLean
    Dominique Bouchard

  • TrueSport Ambassador and Olympic Swimmer, Elizabeth Beisel, reveals her favorite lip sync song.

    https://youtu.be/XCvTiS812LQ

  • Sharyn Parker is proof you are never too old to learn to swim.

  • They can hold their breath for several minutes and slow their heartrate to almost nothing. Free divers plunge to incredible depths with no scuba gear. They push themselves to the limit to break new records but despite the serious risks involved, they can’t resist the call of the deep.

    https://youtu.be/P_jlfwfH0kM