Swimmer's Daily

  • At the U.S. Olympic Trials yesterday evening, Rebecca Soni and Micah Lawrence qualified for the women’s 200 breaststroke, with a time of 2:21.13 and 2:23.03 respectively. Ryan Lochte and Tyler Clary took the men’s 200 backstroke in 1:54.54 and 1:54.88, Michael Phelps took the men’s 200 IM in 1:54.84 ahead of Ryan Lochte in 1:54.93, and in the women’s 100 freestyle, Jessica Hardy and Missy Franklin took the individual spots in 53.96 and 54.15, with Allison Schmitt, Lia Neal, Amanda Weir and Natalie Coughlin qualifying for the 4×100 relay. See all results from day 6 here.

  • Last night at about midnight after having swum for more than 40 hours, 49-year-old Penny Palfrey was pulled out of her swim from Cuba to Florida “due to a strong southeast current that made it impossible for her to continue her swim.” Read for instance the Washington Post.

  • Masters swimming is in its infancy here in the Faroe Islands, with the annual Faroese championships only two years old, and competitions scarce. We are also not really ‘there’ yet when it comes to making this part of competitive really serious, proven for instance by the fact that we typically switch roles and let the young swimmers be officials, and hesitate started registering national masters records and stuff. But that being said, the young officials are really enthusiastic and probably just as good as the rest of us :-)

    Young officials at the SuSvim masters meet

  • Olympic champion Grant Hackett battled a “heavy” reliance on the controversial sleeping pill Stilnox towards the end of his swimming career, an investigation has revealed. The pills were administered by swimming officials during meets, including the Olympics.

    “At one point they scared me,” he said. “They’re evil.

    The overuse was because of a shoulder injury from 2006 onwards and continued grueling training sessions of 16 km a day in the pool. He had problems sleeping and took Stilnox over a “longer than usual period”, the Sunday Telegraph now blasting team doctors et al.

    The greatest Olympic swimmer of all time, US superfish Michael Phelps, has openly admitted to using Ambien (the US version of Stilnox) when in heavy training and competition throughout his career.

    Read more here on news.com.au

  • A traditional Faroese rowing boat, design from way back in the viking days, used as on of the escort boats at the open water race “Jóansøkusvimjingin” across the firth of Tvøroyri back in 2011.

    DSC_5718

    Our national sport is races in these rowing boats, arranged as a series of races at village festivals where they rack up points, with the big final being on our national day in the capitol of Tórshavn.

  • At the U.S. Olympic Trials yesterday evening, Marine Pirate Scott Weltz and Clark Burckle upset favorites Eric Shanteau and Brendan Hansen by taking the men’s 200 breaststroke Olympic tickets in 2:09.01 and 2:09.97. Cammile Adams and Kathleen Hersey took women’s 200 butterfly tickets in 2:06.52 and 2:07.72, and in the men’s 100 freestyle Nathan Adrians and Cullen Jones in 48.10 and 48.46. See all results from day 5 here.

  • Ryan Lochte’s mother, Ileana ‘Ike’ Lochte, tells NBC 6’s Jackie Nespral how she hopes that he will design swimsuits for Speedo after her son’s swimming career is done. “He really loves designing, he loves drawing, he loves just being out there,” she says, adding that he is an abstract artist.”

  • Endurance swimmer Penny Palfrey pushed through the calm waters of the Florida Straits overnight and through the Saturday dawn, enduring jellyfish stings but otherwise encountering perfect conditions as she neared the halfway mark in her attempt to become the first woman to swim unassisted from Cuba to Florida. Read more here on the Washington Post and see for instance CNN.

  • According to Sarah Sjöström here on AXA Sports Club, she’s been struggling with an infection this past week, resulting in her now getting antibiotics and canceling her participation at the Swedish National Championships this week. But they expect her to recover fast, and are searching for a competition next week to get those race muscles fired up.

    ‘Have not been sick in over a year, so it is a bit tough to be that now. Just have to make the best out of the situation.’

    Sarah Sjöström about to step up onto the block