Swimmer's Daily

  • During our Winter in July 2014 event Reba, an Asian elephant, received a double firehose shower from the Phoenix Fire Department! Elephants have very thick skin, and the high-pressure water streams from each hose is like a massage for Reba. All of the elephants at the Zoo receive daily showers from their keepers as part of their routine care. Our elephant staff is dedicated to providing the highest care for these amazing animals. Thank you Phoenix Fire Department for coming out to give Reba her annual Winter in July shower!

    Courtesy of Phoenix Zoo on YouTube

  • Sharon van Rouwendaal (NED) and Daniel Fogg (GBR) earned the first titles on offer in open water swimming on the opening day of the 32nd European Championships in Berlin.

    Sharon van Rouweendal of the Netherlands was crowned the first European champion of the 2014 edition in Berlin. It happened at the open water events at the magnificent rowing centre in Grunau where the women’s 10km race launched the 32nd European Championships

    The enthusiastic spectators on the old stands witnessed another fantastic battle which offered the usual excitements. Italy’s Aurora Ponsele took the lead quite early and tried to set the pace. During the first 2.5km she built a 20sec lead ahead of the pack chasing her. She was still in front at half-way and even before the last lap but the gap diminished to a single second. The finish couldn’t have been any more thrilling: the competitors switched gears and they reached an amazing speed as if they hadn’t swum 9900 metres in the previous two hours or so. Finally, Rouwendaal stroke her way to the gold medal, reaching the touchpad 1.1sec ahead of Olympic champion Eva Risztov (HUN) who out-touched Ponsele by 0.4sec.

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

    The men’s 5km time trial’s title went to Great Britain’s Daniel Fogg who even surprised himself by winning the event, ahead of the hosts’ two hopes, Rob Muffels and his majesty, the German Iron Man, Thomas Lurz.

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

    This was part of a press release from LEN

    Gallery images courtesy of deepbluemedia.eu

  • The open water swimmer Natalie Charlos (POL) is currently in good condition after she had to be taken to hospital after the women’s 10km race on Wednesday afternoon. She remains under observation in a local hospital for precaution according to the medical protocols.

    The Organising Committee has assured LEN that all assistance and safety services are in place and in full functioning to provide the athletes the enforcement of both FINA and LEN regulations. For LEN, the athletes’ safety and health will remain the top priority.

  • The organizers at the Amsterdam Swim Cup are looking for swimmers to sign up for the 11th edition of the meet, which will take place Dec. 12-14.  The three-day competition can be used to gain a cut time for the 2015 World Championships as well as the 2015 European Games.

    Read SwimmingWorld

  • Pál said in an interview yesterday on our Faroese spoken sister-site, that he had entered the 5K here in Berlin to get open water experience, before a possible attempt to reach Rio.

    I’m sure he didn’t mean the kind of experience he got today. Disqualified because of a false start, in a 5K. Ouch.

    This was my first time at a real open water race, and it was quite interesting. A very nice atmosphere in general, but also real upsetting moments like when that Polish girl got in trouble, and of course when Pál was back with us way too early.

    The evening has been spent communicating back to the Faroe Islands, on what went wrong. To cut it real short, we felt he had a good chance in this race, and were calm and confident right up till that moment when his suit ripped about the same time as the final call came for the competitors. So he changed real quick, into a long john suit instead of the bodysuit.

    Pál himself wrote on Facebook tonight

    Had a nightmare of at start to these European Camps. I got disqualified for a false start at the 5k today, which was very irritating, because I had no incentive to cheat, I just didn’t know the start signal well enough. Simply a case of lack of open water experience. But fair is got to be fair, every .01 second counts and this is a gentleman’s sport after all. I’m just glad that the judges stopped me in the first round, so that I didn’t waste to much energy. Which I’m gonna need in the pool later this week. No need to stare into the rear view mirror.

    So yeah, we put this behind us now, and focus on the pool races next week !

  • See len.au

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21er0p_european-swimming-championships-2014-berlin-ger_sport

  • South Africa’s Olympic swimming champion Cameron van der Burgh is hoping to avoid surgery over a troublesome shoulder, saying the next two months will be crucial in determining how to resolve the problem.

    The 26-year-old has been struggling with pain recently as a result of non-stop competition, his most recent being the SA Short Course Swimming Championships in Pietermaritzburg last week.

    “It’s as bad as what you see,” he said.

    “A lot of specialists and surgeons want to operate on it the first time they see it, but I’m taking the rehab route rather.

    “For the next six weeks, I’ll try and relax, lay lower and do a lot of rehab on the shoulder. It’s more the irritation than the injury. If I can just get rid of that then it’ll be okay.”

    Read The Citizen

  • So I have travelled all day today, and am knackered. Pál says breakfast is at 7 AM, which is 6 AM in the time zone I left this morning, so I’d better go to bed now. Just a few words before bedtime.

    (more…)

  • Interesting detail out of a LEN press release today

    LEN Sports Office Manager Marco Birri revealed that LEN would provide live streaming of each and every session of all four disciplines. “We will even have cameras broadcasting those events which are not covered by the host broadcaster, including the synchro preliminaries.” The live webcasting will be available on the LEN website (www.len.eu) for all competition days for free.

    See len.eu