Swimmer's Daily

  • The head coach of Chinese swimming team has tried to keep a low key ahead of July’s world championships in Kazan, Russia, saying that it looks a mission impossible to repeat their feat of winning five gold medals at the last worlds.

    “It will be very tough for us to win five titles as we did last time in Barcelona, because top swimmer Sun Yang is yet to reach peak form,” Yao Zhengjie told Xinhua Thursday after the conclusion of the Chines national swimming championships.

    Sun Yang, who claimed three individual freestyle gold medals at the Barcelona worlds in 2013, swept four freestyle events – 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m – at the national championships, held this week in Baoji, Shaanxi Province.

    But, his 200m free time, 1:45.75, was slower than German veteran Paul Biedermann, who timed 1:45.60 in the German championships. Sun’s 400m free time, 3:44.53, ranked fourth in the world, while his signature 1,500m free time, 15:00.73, was only sixth on the global ranks and far behind his own world record.

    Australia’s 18-year-old Mack Horton, who holds the world fastest time in three events, is expected to be Sun’s main threat in Kazan.

    “Sun trained well in Australia, but the results here were not so good,” said Yao. “It’s probably because it is his first competition this year, and hopefully he will swim better at the Kazan Worlds.”

    Similarly, double Olympic champion Ye Shiwen is struggling for form despite winning two medleys at the Nationals. Ye, who failed to win a medal at the 2013 Barcelona Worlds, ranked seventh in the 200m while fourth in the 400m in the world.

    Read Xinhua

  • A #SwimBiz presentation by Lauren Pasquale, U.S. Olympic Committee Digital Media Director.

  • A #SwimBiz presentation by Jayme Deerwester, Reporter, USA Today.

  • “Here we go daddy!” :-)

  • A University of Victoria student is making waves both on and off-shore after he became the first person in the world to defend his master’s thesis underwater.

    Mike Irvine, who studies education, live-streamed his exam on YouTube Monday from six metres (20 feet) below the surface.

    “It was a project that’s been evolving and growing for the past four years,” Irvine told The Huffington Post B.C. in a phone interview. “I wanted to share that diving experience with other people.”

    See Huffington Post

  • A #SwimBiz presentation by Tom Ugast, CEO, Nations Capital Swim Club and Olympian Andrew Gemmell.

  • It was one of the most captivating interviews in recent memory and now Sir Michael Parkinson has lifted the lid on the sage advice he gave to Aussie swimmer Ian Thorpe before he came out.

    Looking back, the 80-year-old recounted his conversation with the sports star to News.com.au.

    “I said to him at the time: ‘Why the hell did you think that because you were gay that you had to keep it a secret? Who gives a toss?’”

    Michael cites the attitudes were different in Thorpie’s heyday and that swimming was predominately a “butch sport.” The veteran reporter also believes Ian held onto his secret was because of guilt.

    “Why did he waste all that time feeling cut off — unable to be honest with himself and his parents and everybody. I think it (the interview) purged him of a great feeling of guilt. It is an indication of how Australia has grown up … that he has been accepted.”

    Read Woman’s Day

  • Watch Adam Peaty smash the world record in the 100m breaststroke at the British Championships in London. The City of Derby swimmer also gave us his reaction after his outstanding race.

  • The Hungarian Prime Minister Mr. Viktor Orbán and FINA President Dr. Julio C. Maglione were in Lausanne on April 16 to sign the official host city agreement between FINA and the city of Budapest, Hungary, the host city of the FINA World Championships and World Masters Championships in 2017.