Swimmer's Daily

  • Reputable Danish club coach Ejnar Larsen announced this week that he will quit at the end of this season, opting for a job outside the sport of swimming. He coached Lotte Friis in her developing years, and now again formally as the coach of the club Herlev that she competes for at national meets, though not with any practical implications for her with him leaving, as she now does all of her training at the National Training Center in Bellahøj. Via www.simma.nu/dk

    After 20 years of coaching, with the Europeans, Olympics and Worlds on his resumé, and without really wanting to stir things up or sound as ‘a baby who’s lost its pacifier’, he makes the disturbing farewell observation that there is a ‘glass roof’ in Danish swimming, limiting the ambitious coaches’ possibilities on the international field, now with most of the Danish elite concentrated at the National Training Center. (more…)

  • Warning, Annamay Pierse tries burping the alphabet in this video.

  • Very interesting news here on SwimNews – LEN, the European Swimming League has voted to hold mixed relays in which men and women race together at its short course championships already this year and the long course version from 2014. First swimmer world records will apparently still not be accepted because of FINA rules, as many of us remember from the Libby Lenton case in 2007. LEN has opted to cancel its European Short Course Championships in years when FINA holds the World Short Course Championships. LEN abolishes the restriction on size of advertising logos allowed on suits (!), and recommends to FINA to alter its definitions of “world junior” status to 18-20 for men and 17-19 for women. Bold but logical changes, me thinks.

  • At the Spanish Open National Championships in Malaga, yesterday evening, Mireia Belmonte García managed a 1:57.58 in the women’s 200 freestyle, besting Melanie Costa Schmid’s Spanish record of 1:57.83 from the Shanghai 2011 World Championships. Belmonte García also managed a near-national record in the women’s 200 IM, winning in 2:10.53, and won the 800 freestyle the day before in 8:25.55. Aschwin Wildeboer Faber won the men’s 100 back in 53.78, and the 50 back the day before in 24.91. Read more here and here on SwimmingWorld Magazine.

  • According to O’Neill, the Superkini is a technically advanced new bikini made with Nanofront – a revolutionary and super comfortable material that has 200% more grip than the standard lycra and even greater frictional force when wet, ensuring minimal bikini slippage and movement. Enjoy the beach this summer with the utmost confidence, via The Wall Street Journal.

  • I’m 99% sure a man invented these machines

  • “In preparation for the London Games, the TYR research and development team has unveiled the most advanced technical innovation to ever hit the face of swimming, The FastStache. The next breakthrough in swimming is right under your nose. Keep a fast upper lip and get your fast face on. ” Read more here on SwimmingWorld Magazine, and visit www.TYR.com/faststache, to see also the Mutton Chop and Soul Patch expansion kits.

  • The Montréal Gazette has gotten hold of information after a 7-year court battle, showing that signs of an impending financial debacle were apparent more than a year before Montreal was stripped of the FINA 2005 World Aquatics Championships. Yet even as the bills accumulated, the organizing committee spent millions of dollar to pay, and sometimes lend, money to companies that were associated with members or the organizing committee. The whole row ended tragically with FINA removing Montreal as host in January 2005, the organizing committee’s head, Yvon DesRochers, committing suicides days later, and the city then reinstated again as host after the mayor of Montreal promising that the city would cover any deficit. Read much more here on The Gazette.

  • This is interesting … Earlier this month, YouTube opened up the possibility for NonProfits to live stream directly on YouTube, and apparently the Spaniards were quick,
    arranging the ongoing “Open” de España Natación to use this possibility, or something similar, since for instance this video says “Streamed live on Mar 29, 2012”, and others are listed but not available yet.