Swimmer's Daily

  • The Dutch made it three, the Russians earned the first two

    The Dutch swimmers proved they were the ruling nation of the open water events at this year’s European Championships in Berlin by winning the team competition. The Russians also started to collect their gold medals in synchro: they got the respective titles in duet and in team.

    With two freshly crowned European champions in their line-up, the Netherlands started the 5km team event as the overwhelming favourites in Grünau: 10km gold medallists Sharon van Rouwendaal and Ferry Weertman were both at the start of the race, together with Marcel Shouten. However, the Greeks, the Germans, the Hungarians and the Italians all sent their best ones to the Long Lake to battle for the medals in the time trial.

    The regatta course showed a bit darker face this time with the air being a bit cooler than the water. All teams applied the two men-one woman format – which is not always the case in this event – and the splits after 2500m promised a thrilling end as the third member of the Dutch, the Greek and the German team crossed the line inside a 3-second gap.

    But the Dutch, already in the lead, managed to increase their speed and after clocking 27:59.9min in the first lap came home in 27:47.9, quite a devastating effort -which earned them a 17.7 advantage over the Greeks. Giannotis & Co. had an excellent race with two equally fine laps (28:01.8 and 28:03.7) and clinched the silver medal.

    The battle for the bronze turned out to be a really close call: the Germans slowed down in the second part while the Hungarians produced the second-best split of the entire race (27:58.5) and almost caught the hosts but at last they were 1.2sec shy of reaching the podium.

    In synchro the Russians did their job again. In the duet competition new pairs competed for the medals to bring some freshness to the pool. Daria Korobova and Svetlana Kolesnichenko did a great job, earned a couple of 9.9s for their free routine and won with a comfortable margin (6.1908 points). The Ukrainians managed to get ahead of the Spaniards for the first time: Lolita Ananasova and Anna Voloshyna were slightly better than the new line-up of Ona Carbonell and Paula Klamburg.

    Press release from LEN

    Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • So I went to town, needing a thing or two for my camera. Jumped off the tram at Alexander Platz and walked to Potsdamer Platz via the Reichstag, and then back partly along the traces of the former Wall to the hotel at Landsberger Allé.

    It was a long walk.

  • The tourist was splashing around off the coast of Mexico’s Playa del Carmen when the deadly beast gave chase.

    Heart-stopping footage shows the man frantically trying to reach the shore as the predator moves in. […]

    Manuel Carrera captured the astonishing incident on camera and uploaded it to Facebook.

    See for instance NY Daily News

  • Ukraine nearing first ever synchro gold

    The only calmer day of the European Championships with no medals awarded, still,beautiful synchro events were held in the famous Schwimm- und Sprunghalle in Berlin.

    With a rest day held at the open water events, the eyes turned to the synchro competitions where some magnificent performances entertained the crowd in the morning session and during the evening as well.

    The solo free preliminaries saw another great show from Svetlana Romashina: the new Russian queen in synchro came up with her best again. As she was freed from the duet duties for this season, she had more time to focus on her solo routines. This is clearly visible in the results: before the final she already gained an almost 5-point lead over Ona Carbonell of Spain.

    As of today this is the only event where the Spaniards wait the final ranked ahead of the Ukrainians (Anna Voloshyna is sitting third in solo) as their rivals also got more points in the free combination prelims. In this event they eventually battle for the title as the Russians stayed away. Again, the gap between them is tiny, just 1.1334 points, but the Ukrainians gained on them in all three categories (execution, impression and elements) and now they are nearing to earn their first European gold medal ever in synchro. Here Italy is a close third, well ahead of the Greeks.

    Just as in the other two events – in duet and in team – great finals are in sight on Sunday.Tomorrow the first medals in synchro will be awarded while in open water the team event is up next.

    Images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • The most decorated Olympian of all time reflects on his winless run since coming out of retirement in April. Michael Phelps says his lacklustre performance at the US national championships served as a good learning experience. ‘I am doing it for myself, and I am going to have to work because I want to,’ he says.

    See The Guardian

    http://youtu.be/VBeanLwvi48

  • A shark sighting was confirmed in the water off Manhattan Beach pier on Thursday, about a month after a man swimming in the same area was left injured when a shark bit him. […]

    A Baywatch Redondo personal watercraft investigated and confirmed the sighting to be a juvenile white shark that was 7 feet long, another Lifeguard Division tweet stated.

    The shark was monitored for 45 minutes and determined not to be aggressive or a threat, so no advisories to the public were made, according to the division.

    Such sightings are common, the division said.

    Post by FB Newswire.

    See KTLA

  • Smiley Hannah Miley has had a lot of success in her 25 years.

    Her most recent was at last month’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow where she won a gold medal in the 400m individual medley and a bronze in the 200m individual medley.

    But her achievements come at a price as she explained yesterday. Her medals, she said, make up for all the sacrifices her and her family have had to make – including not seeing her boyfriend for six months to train for last month’s sporting event.

    Read more here on The Press and Journal

    Photo courtesy of TVC Group

  • The Netherlands made it two: just as in the women’s 10km event, a Dutch triumphed in the men’s classic distance, Ferry Weertman won a magnificent race. The women’s 5km time trial brought the first gold medal for the hosts, Isabelle Harle won by a huge margin. In synchro, Russia is on the verge to collect the golds in duet and team.

    After the evening rains, glorious sunshine welcomed back the competitors of the men’s 10km event in Grunau – and in the perfect conditions they produced a brilliant race on the regatta course again.

    For three rounds Hungary’s Gergely Gyurta – little bro of the breaststroker ace Daniel – led the pack but during the last lap he started to fade while the ‘big guns’ began to rule. With 2km to go local hero Thomas Lurz switched speed, it was the 6th and for a while it seemed to be a winning tactic gear as the rivals, Frenchman Alex Meyer and Greece’s Spyridon Gianniotis fell behind. However, there was one man who could keep up with the German, Ferry Weertman of the Netherlands and when they reached the last turns, the Dutch was clearly fresher and stronger. He managed to pass Lurz and swum away in the last hundred metres, the Iron Man came second while Russia’s Evgeny Drattsev could leave the pack behind to clinch the bronze.

    Post by 32nd LEN European Swimming Championships – Berlin 2014 / Official Fanpage.

    In the women’s 5km event the time trial format secured a calmer hour for the supporters, though the local enthusiasts created some noise when Isabelle Harle (GER) appeared first on the screen at the half-way check point. And she managed to keep her substantial lead till the end, she was the only one coming inside 58min and won by a huge, 34.2sec margin. The silver went to Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED), winner of the 10km on the opening day, while the bronze was clinched by Mireia Belmonte, the Spanish pool distance swimmer whose first ‘excursion’ to open water was a great success.

    Post by 32nd LEN European Swimming Championships – Berlin 2014 / Official Fanpage.

    The day also saw a special award ceremony: Europe’s two best open water swimmers of 2013 – elected by the LEN Family –, Thomas Lurz and Martina Grimaldi (ITA) received the prestigious LEN Award on site from LEN General Secretary David Sparkes.

    Press release from LEN

    Gallery images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • So with no real official task for today, I went back to Grünau to watch the open water races.

    It was a nice day, with good competition especially in the men’s 10K, and decent weather.

    Our president Hestoy was in charge of the women’s 5K, so I got to see that too.

    Tomorrow there is no open water swimming, so maybe some synchro, or sightseeing.