Yannick Agnel (FRA) winner of the men’s 200 freestyle at the FINA / Arena 2012 Swimming World Cup meet in Berlin, Germany. Paul Biedermann (GER) second and Darian Townsend (RSA) third, see result list here.
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Divers rescue a tangled whale shark
Last week, divers off the coast of Mexico came across a pregnant whale shark who had been tangled so badly in rope, that it had cut into its fins and body. Seems to have ended happily, though. Via Buzzfeed
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Camille Muffat 8:01.06 and huge world record in the 800 SCM free
Olympic Nice Natation is having a ball at the French Nationals – Yesterday Yannick Agnel set that world record in the 400 freestyle, this morning he set a new European record in the 800 freestyle, and now Camille Muffat demolished the women’s 800 meter short course freestyle world record, with a time of 8:01.06, more than 3 seconds faster than Alessia Filippi’s 8:04.53 from the super-suited circus of Rijeka 2008. Teammate Lotte Friis was a distant second in 8:16.91, see result list here, via SwimmingWorld on Facebook.
Video here (geo-restrictions apply)
The last couple of laps
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Danish club asks best swimmer not to compete at club champs, because he is too good
Wow, a story for our wtf-category: Varde Svømmeklub has asked 17-year old Christian Larsen to not compete at the club championships this Saturday, because he is too good. The board believes that he will be a better role model if he stays away and lets younger, slower swimmers take the club championships honors. He and his parents disagree. Source jv.dk (in Danish) via simma.nu/dk -
Yannick Agnel 7:29.17 and a new European Record in the 800 freestyle
Oh my, Yannick Agnel is on fire – The morning after breaking Paul Biedermann’s 2009 world record in the 400 freestyle, Agnel takes down the European short course 800 meter freestyle record, with a blazing 7:29.17 in the prelims, second fastest ever in textile after Grant Hackett’s 7:25.28 from 2001, Agnel of course qualifying for the final. The ‘real’ world record stands at 7:23.42, which was Grant Hackett in Melbourne 2008. Read SwimNews and see the result list.
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Video: Yannick Agnel 3:32.25 and world record in the 400 SCM free
Update 2: Video below replaced with a YouTube version
Update: In case the videos below are geoblocked, it might work to try the direct link: http://video.eurosport.fr/natation/championnats-de-france/2012/le-record-du-monde-de-yannick-agnel_vid254572/video.shtml
Courtesy of Eurosport
The interview, afterwards (in French, of course)
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CC photo #320: Yannick Agnel at the Berlin 2012 World Cup meet
French swimmer Yannick Agnel at the FINA / Arena 2012 Swimming World Cup leg in Berlin, Germany, after having won the men’s 200 freestyle in 1:42.10. See result list here. Today he broke the men’s 400 freestyle world record :-)
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Yannich Agnel 3:32.25 and a new short course world record in the 400 meter freestyle !!
At the French National Championships today, Yannick Agnel blazed the men’s 400 short course meters freestyle in a new world record of 3:32.25, eclipsing Paul Biederman’s 3:32.77 from the Berlin 2009 World Cup meet back in the supersuited days. Amazing, read Speed Endurance and see full result list here
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Wildeboer quits Danish swimming, next stop Australia
Former National Coach of Denmark Paulus Wildeboer has decided to resign also his job as head coach of the National Training Center in Copenhagen, to leave for Australia and a contract with Swimming Queensland and Australian Swimming until late 2016. The Danish Swimming Federation has been struggling with finding a replacement for him as national coach, and now they need to find a head of the NTC also, before February 2013. See the official press release here on svoem.org (in Danish)
Paulus’ decision comes as no surprise to those of us who follow Danish swimming closely, as there has been tension between him and several leading Danish club coaches for almost the entire duration of his stay in Denmark. He has been named as Danish coach of the year at least one time (I think twice), and no-one can argue that he has very good results to show for his work in Copenhagen; but still there was for instance this former Swedish national head now Danish club coach Thomas Jansson publicly calling for his resignation, after Wildeboer had blasted them for being soft on the swimmers (all sources in Danish, sorry).
Also, with Jeanette Ottesen taking time off for a bout of Dancing With The Stars and Lotte Friis deciding to train in France, there might not have been enough talent left in the Bellahøj pool, to keep Wildeboer interested. This is total guesswork from me, feel free to cut me down in the comments.