Swimmer's Daily

  • In a remarkable performance on 3rd night of the State New Zealand Swim Championships, Matthew Stanley, Steven Kent, Dylan Dunlop-Barrett and Andrew McMillan smashed the New Zealand record and gave themselves an outstanding chance to earn an invitation to the London Olympics.

    The quartet, the fastest four individuals in the 200m freestyle final, went 7:14.05 in the 4x200m freestyle relay which was seven seconds under the old national record, but more importantly posting a time that would have placed them 10th in the world last year.

    Twelve teams have already qualified for the Olympics, with the next four fastest nations at the end of the qualifying period in early June to earn selection.

    (more…)

  • Shooting footage for a 3-D movie and a National Geographic special, filmmaker James Cameron journeyed to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, seven miles below the surface. Tom Clarke of Independent Television News reports on Cameron’s deep dive to the Mariana Trench’s Challenge Deep, 300 miles southwest of Guam. “He set off in the middle of the night, but it makes no difference when you’re heading to the darkest place on Earth.”

  • Sweet, Mie Ø. Nielsen mentioned as a serious London 2012 medal contender, and Pál getting a nice, detailed mention also.

  • “We’re really satisfied. We have the potential for 8 to 10 medals,” French swimming federation president Francis Luyce told reporters on Sunday. France’s biggest hopes are Camille Lacourt, the 100 backstroke world champion in Shanghai last year, and Camille Muffat, who broke 200 and 400 freestyle French records to qualify, national technical director Christian Donze said, also tipping Yannick Agnel who set a national record in the 200 freestyle with 1:44.42. Read more here on Reuters.

  • 20-year-old Matthew Stanley rewrote the record books for a second straight night at the New Zealand Swimming Championships in Auckland tonight, which doubles as the Olympic Trials. In a class of his own in the 200 freestyle, Stanley qualfied for the London Olympics in 1:47.57, 6/100ths of a second inside the 16-year-old national record set by Danyon Loader in winning gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Also qualifying were Gareth Kean and Daniel Bell in the men’s 100 backstroke with 53.58 and 54.39 respectively, and Lauren Boyle with a 4:05.83 national record in the 400 freestyle.

    Matt Stanley, Steven Kent, Dylan Dunlop-Barrett and Andrew McMillan met the selection standard and will form a national relay combination to attempt to qualify in the 4x200m freestyle relay tonight (New Zealand time, that’s tomorrow morning here in Europe).

    Read more here on tvnz and here on nzherald

  • Six players from the South African rugby club Motherwell are feared dead after being swept out to sea during a post-practice ocean swim today, one player already been declared dead. They had gone swimming in the sea when they were swept out by a rip current, others stepping in to try to rescue them only to also be swept out. Via Eurosport

  • Double Olympic medallist David Davies is hoping a revolutionary new computer game designed by students can help him claim gold at London 2012. Kept secret in British swimming for the last year, the project called Open Water Warfare is supposed to help home stars compete in the 10K, apparently by letting them practice the navigation in a 3D simulation of the Olympic Serpentine course in Hyde Park.

    “Navigation has been the biggest challenge for me since I transferred from the pool,” he said.

    “I have struggled with it in other races and it happens to plenty of other swimmers.

    “It cost me the gold in Beijing where I was probably the best swimmer but not the best open water swimmer.

    “Even over 10km centimetres can cost you and knowing the best line through this line, through this game, can prove the difference.”

    Read More here on WalesOnline

  • Interesting concept here, they put a huge temporary dome over the Kantrida Swimming Complex outdoor pool in Rijeka, Croatia, used as training pool at the 2008 European Short Course Championships, and put pressure in it (complete with air locks) to keep the roof up. You could feel the pressure in your ears – especially the day when it was raining and windy. They are actually talking about roofing our local soccer pitch here at Toftir with this technology, I’m sure it will be the biggest blimp ever, come the first storm.

    The Rijeka 2008 inflatable training pool roof

  • DSC_0107-1France’s former Olympic champion and now again qualified swimmer Laure Manaudou said in a newspaper interview published on Monday that she is living with the threat of suspension after missing two drug tests this season.

    “That means that if I miss another one I would be suspended,” she was quoted as saying.

    “In people’s minds, it’s like a positive test,” she added, saying that she had been “permanently stressed” ever since about missing a third test, which could effectively end her Olympic hopes.

    Read more here on Sport24